Another Scuito in the Family
by surferdude8225
Summary: So, this is an AU fic that I thought up. What would happen if Abby had a little brother who came to live with her? This also has Kate from Daddy's Sweetest Gift by gibby101. So R&R Thanks! T just for saftey
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey guys! Well, this is my first NCIS fic. My friend (and fellow author) gibby101 gave me the idea and I decided to see what I could do. This was what I got. If you haven't read her fic, Daddy's Sweetest Gift, you won't understand who Katie is, so read that before you start this. This is all written in Abby's POV. So, without further ado, here is Another Scuito in the Family. R&R! Thanks!!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, not the world or the characters. I only own Will and the security guard.

Abby's POV

I only just managed to grab the phone when it rang. The music in my lab was playing extra loud today, so I almost missed it. I turned down the music and quickly grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" I said.

"Is this Abigail Scuito?" a woman's voice asked from the other end.

"Yeah, who's this?" I asked. The voice didn't sound familiar and it wasn't the hospital, the number wasn't from around here.

"This is Mrs. Sheffield from the Boys' Home in Burlington, Massachusetts," she told me. I knew she wasn't lying because I traced the call.

"Why are you calling me?" I asked. I couldn't think of why I was getting calls from a boys' home in Massachusetts.

"I'm sorry, we only just got your number or we would have called sooner. You didn't hear?" she asked. Now I was getting confused.

"What didn't I hear?" I practically demanded.

"Your brother, William is here. We've been watching him since yesterday as we couldn't get a hold of you," she said. I just froze. It couldn't be true. Will was safe, with mom. "Hello? Are you still there?" the woman asked.

"Yeah, I'm here. Can I come and get him? How will all this work?" I asked. All I knew at that moment was that I had to get to Massachusetts.

"Well, you are his sister. He's safe here if you'd rather wait till tomorrow to pick him up so you can make arrangements there. I know you're in Washington DC and it takes seven and a half hours by car, a few less by plane," she said. I looked at the clock; it was 9:07 in the morning.

"I'll be there in a few hours. Thank you for your call," I said, hanging up before she could talk again.

"Abbs, are you okay?" Tim asked. He had walked into the lab while I was on the phone and I hadn't realized it till now.

"God, McGee! You scared the shit outa me! No, everything is not alright. Will's in a boys' home and I don't know where mom is!" I said, the tears welling up in my eyes.

"Abby, it's okay, come here," he said, holding out his arms to me. I threw my arms around his neck and cried.

"Who's Will?" he asked.

"My brother, he's eight years old," I said.

"And why is he in a boys' home?" Timmy asked, trying to piece everything together.

"I don't know. The lady just said he'd been there since yesterday! A day is a long time, Tim; they had 24 hours to find my number! They only just did now! Am I that hard to find? I do work for a federal agency!" I said.

"They probably just didn't know that," he said.

"But Will knows! He has my card and my cell phone number and my work number and my address! He has everything they'd need to find me!" I said. "They should have gotten to me right after he got there! It doesn't make any sense."

"He might have been found on the street or something and didn't have it on him," Tim tried.

"Either way it was unacceptable," I said, letting go of McGee and going to the computer.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Looking into a flight to get my brother. Call Gibbs and tell him your coming with me," I said, selecting a three hour flight from DC to Boston and buying two tickets.

"Ok," he said uncertainly.

Gibbs didn't have a problem with it, but Tony claimed he should go instead.

"McGoo's just a Probie," he told me. "I am the Senior Field Agent."

"Did you ever stop to think McGee's nicer than you?" I asked.

"No," he said, flashing his smile.

"Well, he is. Come on, McGee, the flight leaves in an hour," I said, pulling him out of the Bullpen with me.

"Your car or mine?" he asked when we were in the elevator.

"Yours, I'll need to come back here with him when we get back, so you can just drop us off," I said.

We drove to the air port in silence except for the radio. I messed around with the stations till I found one playing metal and turned it up until Tim took my hand off the dial and turned it back down a bit.

When we got there we breezed through security because all we had with us were cell phones and McGee had his backpack. We didn't have weapons. When we sat down on the plane half an hour later, I was just exhausted. It was only 10:20 in the morning but I was beat. And I hadn't had my Caf-Pow! yet. We took off and, once the flight attendants gave the ok, McGee took out his lap top and started doing God knows what. I took out my iPod and blasted metal for the next two and a half hours.

When we got off the plane and out of the air port, we hailed a taxi outside and gave the driver the address of the home. He grimaced, but drove us there anyway. Cost us a bit, but we thanked him, paid, and got out.

The place wasn't really what I expected it to be. I had imagined that it would be like the orphanage from Annie, dark, gloomy, sad, miserable, but it wasn't. Sure, it wasn't exactly cheerful, but it wasn't bad. It looked like any other building on the block. We walked up the front steps and knocked on the door. A guy in his early twenties answered it. He was medium height and had brown hair and hazel eyes.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I'm Abby Scuito. My brother, Will, got here yesterday. He's eight and looks a lot like me, but he's shorter with shorter hair and-" I said, but he cut me off.

"Yes, I know him. My name's Max," he said, holding out a hand to me. I shook it and he held it out to Tim who shook it too. "Come right on in, Mrs. Sheffield told me to expect you," he said, walking us to a door that was half open. We walked inside and there was a lady in her late forties sitting behind a desk.

"Mrs. Sheffield, Abby Scuito is here," he said.

"Thank you, Max, please send her in," she said. Tim and I walked in.

"Hello, Ms. Abigail," she said, sounding very formal, but then again, she did deal with a lot of people from different classes. Might as well keep it neutral.

"Hi, Mrs. Sheffield," I said.

"Please, take a seat. And, this is?" she asked, looking at Tim.

"My co-worker at NCIS, Tim McGee. I didn't want to come alone so he offered to come," I explained. "We're all very close at NCIS."

"I see. Well, William should be arriving any minute," she said and, just like that, Max appeared in the doorway again. Mrs. Sheffield didn't wait for him to say anything, "Yes, Max, just send him in."

When Will walked in and saw me, his whole face lit up in surprise. I guess they hadn't told him who was coming to pick him up.

"Abby!" he yelled and ran at me.

"Hey, Squirt! How are you? Are you okay?" I asked, holding him tight. I hadn't been home in a while, just about two years, so it was good to see him again.

"I'm ok. Mom's gone," he said, looking sad. I sat him down on my lap.

"I know, sweetie, but we'll find her," I promised him.

"I take it he's going to go home with you?" Mrs. Sheffield asked. I just looked at her. "Sorry, but I'm entitled to ask."

"Yeah, he's gonna come with me," I said.

"Good, then it's settled. You just need to sign these papers and you're good to go," she said to me. "Max brought down his bags and they're waiting in the lobby."

The papers weren't much, just standard name, age, DOB, address, yadda, yadda, yadda. I was done in record time and I thanked her and the three of us walked out the door.

Will was being quiet, and I figured it had something to do with Timmy. While we waited for our taxi to pick us up, I decided to introduce them. "Will?" I said. "This is my friend, Timmy. We work together at NCIS," I told him.

"What's NCIS?" he asked.

"It stands for Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Do you know who the FBI are?" Tim said.

"Yeah, of course," Will said.

"Well we're just like them, except we're the Marine's version," Tim told him. It looked like they were bonding already.

"What do you do there?" Will asked.

"Well, I'm a field agent, which means I go out and check out the crime scenes and stuff."

"What do you do there?" Will asked me.

"I'm a forensic scientist. I check the evidence the field agents bring back for finger prints and stuff," I told him.

"You guys have the coolest job ever!" Will said.

I just smiled at him. We'd never been really close earlier because of the age difference and the fact that I didn't live at home and didn't visit a lot. Maybe I'd be able to fix that now that he was living with me.

"Yeah, it's really fun. You'll probably end up hanging out at headquarters, so you'll be one of us," I said.

"So who else works with you?" Will asked.

"Well, our boss's name is Gibbs, my team mates are Tony DiNozzo and Kate Todd, and our Medical Examiner's name is Ducky," McGee told him.

"Ducky?" Will asked.

"His real name is Dr. Mallard, but everyone he knows calls him Ducky. Here's the cab," I said. McGee, always the gentleman picked up Will's bag and put it in the trunk. He got up front with the driver and I sat in back with Will.

The taxi was very quiet, none of us really talked until we got to Logan International Airport. We had to check Will's bag and McGee kept his backpack for carry-on, then we bought another one-way ticket and we went off to go get some food. None of us had eaten since breakfast and I figured everyone was as hungry as me.

"What do you want to eat?" I asked Will.

"Anything's fine," he said.

"Burgers?" I asked.

"Sure, sounds good," he said.

"Cheese?" I asked. It was sad, I didn't know my own brother well enough to know if he liked cheese on his burgers or not.

"Yeah, but no pickles, I'm allergic to them," he said.

"Really?" I asked, guilty that I could have just ordered a burger that would've killed Will.

"Yeah, always have been, I get hives and my throat closes up pretty quick. The doctor said he'd never met anyone who was allergic to pickles. He said I'm a special case, whatever that means," he said.

"It's a compliment, you are special," I told him. We ordered our food and found McGee at a table not too far away. For expensive air port food, it wasn't that bad. Our flight was scheduled to leave in half an hour after we finished eating, so when we were done we went to the gate and sat. Will had put his Game Boy in Tim's backpack and he sat playing a game while we waited. When we got on the plane, we'd gotten three seats together. Will got the window seat and looked out the window in awe as we took off. He'd never been on a plane before.

We landed just over two hours later in DC with no problems. We went to baggage claim to get Will's bag, then took the elevator to the third floor and got in McGee's car. Will couldn't stop looking around, he'd never been a big city before and DC was daunting and beautiful. I fell in love with it when I first came, too.

"What do you think?" I asked Will. "You gonna like living here?"

"Yeah, this place is amazing," he said.

"We'll have to take you sight-seeing then," Timmy said.

We made record time going back to NCIS. It was the middle of the day, just after the lunch rush, and people were still all over the roads. When we made it back, Tim said he had to get back to work, told Will he'd see him in a while, and kissed me on the cheek before he walked through the front doors of NCIS at a very fast pace. We followed behind him, losing him when he walked through the doors. I made my way to the desk in the lobby. I knew the security guard, Kevin, and I needed a favor.

"Hey, Kevin," I said, walking over to him with Will at my heels.

"Hey, Abby. This isn't a witness or anything, is it?" he asked, looking Will up and down.

"No, this is my little brother and he's going to be staying with me and he'll need a pass like Katie has," I said. Kate was Gibbs' daughter, but we also had a Kate Todd working for NCIS in Gibbs' team, so I called Kate Todd Kate and Gibbs' daughter Katie.

"Sure thing, what's his name?" he asked, sitting down at the computer, ready to type in Will's information.

"William C. Scuito," I said.

"Date of birth?" he asked.

I was mulling it over in my head; I couldn't quite remember the year. I looked at Will with an apologetic face. "When's your birthday, Will?" I asked.

"August 17, 1993," he said.

"Ok and we'll need his picture. That's it, since he's a minor. When he turns 18, we're going to need every little bit of information about him. Lucky he's still got a few years," he said. "Will, can you come stand over here, right behind this line? We need to get a picture of you for your special visitors' pass," Kevin said.

"Ok, right here?" Will asked.

"Perfect, now smile," Kevin said. Will had the most adorable smile, one only a ten year old could have. His hair was black, like mine, and it stopped just below his ears. His piercing green eyes could stand out for miles. They were brighter than mine, but we both got them from our mom.

Kevin did a few techy things on the computer and printed out a badge with Will's information on it. "Here you go, all you have to do is pick it up when you come into the building and give it back to whichever guard is on duty when you leave. Okay?"

"Thank you," Will said, taking the pass. It was on a lanyard, so he put it around his neck.

"Ok, well we're off to take a tour of the building. Thanks again, Kevin," I said, waving at him as we walked off. Will's bag just needed to go through security, but since he wasn't trying to smuggle anything in, he was cleared in seconds and we walked to the elevators. I hit the down button and we waited.

"Where are we going first?" he asked, very excited.

"My lab, to put your bag away, then autopsy, so you can meet Ducky, then to the Bullpen, where you can meet the rest of the team, and Katie, if she's here," I said.

"Who's Katie?" Will asked.

"My boss's daughter. She's two years older than you and she's really nice. You'll like her," I promised.

We stepped off the elevator and I led him through the door to my lab. He stared around in awe. "Whoa," he said, staring at all of the art work, machines, computers, and everything else crammed into my lab.

"Cool, huh?" I asked, smiling,

"Totally awesome!" he said. I walked over and put his bag under my desk in the next room as he walked over to the mass spectrometer.

"Uh, Will," I said as he reached out a hand. "Can you please not touch that? I'm sorry; it's just that it's a pain in the butt to fix and it's very temperamental. I don't even let Ducky touch it," I said.

"Okay, sorry," he said.

"It's alright. I always have to smack Tony's hand away from it when he's itching for results," I said laughing. Will laughed, too.

"You want to go up and meet Ducky?" I asked.

"Yeah, ok," he said.

We walked back to the elevators. "Let me warn you now," I said when we got in, "He might be doing an autopsy and I don't want it to creep you out. It scared me half to death the first time I saw him doing one," I told him.

The door opened and we got out. "Wait here," I said, motioning to the wall next to the elevator. "If he's doing an autopsy, we'll just come back later," I told him.

"Okay," he said, leaning back against the wall as I walked away. I head the elevator door open as I walked inside autopsy. The room was clear of anyone (dead or alive) except for Ducky. When I turned around, Gibbs was standing against the wall next to Will, talking to him.

"So this is what you pulled McGee away from work for," he called to me.

"Sorry, Gibbs, Will's more important than work," I said.

"How come you never told me you had a brother?" he asked me.

"It just never came up," I said.

"I like him. You bringing him up to meet the team?"

"First we're stopping in so he can meet Ducky then we're coming up," I told Gibbs. "Come on, the rooms clear," I said to Will and Gibbs followed us through the door to autopsy.

"Ah, Abigail, Jethro, I was just going to call you both," Ducky said when we came through the door. "Who is this?" he asked, looking at Will.

"Ducky, this is my brother, Will. Will, this is Ducky," I said.

"How do you do, young man?" Ducky asked, holding out a hand to Will.

"Good," Will said and shook it.

"You do look just like your sister. How old are you?"

"Ten," he said.

"Duck, you said you were going to call about something?" Gibbs said. Gibbs never waited for people to give him information.

"Ah, yes, Jethro, I found…" I tuned Ducky out after that. He'd fill me in later and I didn't want Ducky pulling a body out of the freezer without warning.

"Come on, I'll take you up to meet the last three people," I said, motioning to Will. He seemed mesmerized by autopsy, and also a bit scared of it at the same time.

We walked back through the door and stepped back into the elevator.

"So what did you think of Gibbs?" I asked.

"He seemed nice, I guess," Will said.

"A bit intimidating, too, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, smiling. I guessed he didn't want to be the only one to say it. The doors opened to the Bullpen. It looked like a normal office, or it would without the criminals' wall. I led him to the right out of the elevators and we approached Gibbs' teams' desks.

"Hey, Will," Tim said, looking up from his computer.

"Hi, Tim," Will said, waving. On the plane ride back they talked about computers and video games and what they're high scores were. Timmy had definitely had a good time talking to Will about them and vice versa.

"Hi, Will, I'm Anthony DiNozzo," Tony said. "But you can call me Tony. Do you like movies?"

I laughed and Kate rolled her eyes at me. "Ignore Tony," she said to Will. "That's how I get by. I'm Kate Todd," she said.

Will didn't really know what to say, so he looked over at me. Then Katie got up from Gibbs' desk. "Hi, Will, I'm Kate too, but everyone here calls me Katie," she said. "How old are you?" she asked. Katie could be very blunt, just like her father.

"I'm ten," he said.

"Have you met my dad yet?" she asked him.

"Is your dad Gibbs?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said.

"I met him downstairs when I was waiting to meet Ducky," Will told her.

"Did Ducky have any dead bodies on his tables?" Katie asked him.

"No," Will said.

"Good," Katie said. "I have some health homework I need help with. Ducky always helps me with it. I'm gonna go see him. I'll see you later, guys," she said to all of us and grabbed a sheet of paper and went to the elevators.

"So, Will, what's your favorite movie?" Tony asked, still not giving up on the subject.

"Um, I don't know. Abby and I used to watch a lot of movies together and I liked a lot of those," Will said.

Tony looked at me. "You never told me you were a movie freak!" he said.

"I used to be, but now, I'm a science freak," I told him. His face fell.

"I just can't believe you never told me," he said, faking sadness that made me, Kate, and Timmy all laugh.

"Tony, you'll get over it," Kate told him.

"I liked the Harry Potter movies and The Santa Clause movies and Ice Age," Will said.

"Harry Potter was awesome, huh?" Tony said, his face lighting up again.

"Yeah, totally. I even got the game for Christmas from Abby," he said, looking over at me, his bright green eyes shining as he talked to his new friend.

"I'll have to take you to see the third one," Tony said. "That is, if it's okay with your sister."

"It's fine with me. Just make sure it's a weekend, so Gibbs doesn't fire you," I said, smiling.

"Can I come, too?" Katie asked, surprising me, I hadn't even noticed she'd come back. But then, she was a Gibbs.

"Sure, of course. Maybe we'll even make it a team thing and we'll all go see it together," Tony said.

I just watched while they all talked and laughed. Tony was making fun of Kate because she hadn't seen either of the Harry Potter movies yet. I smiled at Will when he looked over at me. He came over to me.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said. "I'm just really happy you're here," I told him, ruffling his hair like used to.

"I'm happy I'm here, too. I like your work," he told me.

"That's good cause you're probably going to be spending a lot of time here," I said.

"So, are you gonna come?" he asked.

"Where?"

"To movie night at Tony's on Friday with Tony, Tim, and Katie," he said.

"Only if Kate goes," I said. Kate turned around.

"Movie night at Tony's? Are you crazy?" she asked.

"Come on, please, Kate?" I begged.

"Yeah, please?" Will said.

Kate looked at him. "What is it with you and your sister? You think you can just give me that look and I'll do whatever you want?" Will just tilted his head a bit to the side. My brother was a natural.

Kate sighed, "What time?' she asked. Will just smiled.

"Seven thirty," Tony said, having over-heard the conversation.

"I'll be there," Kat said.

A/N: Ok, so what did you guys think? I know, it wasn't the best ending, but I didn't know how to end it, so I just stopped it there. I really want reviews!! If you don't review, it's not going to get updated! So please, please, please review!! Thanks!!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Ok, so here's Chapter 2. It takes place a few months after Chapter 1 and everyone is really good friends with Will, especially Katie. They go to different schools, but they always hang out together at NCIS. So by now, Will has gotten settled in school and he is very bright. This is the middle of his fifth grade, since its January and everybody just got back from Christmas vacation. This chapter starts in school a few days after Christmas vacation and Will has just gotten called down to the principal's office. This is in Will's POV. Enjoy!!

Disclaimer: I own nothing… except for Will and anybody else I decide to make up.

Will's POV

Mrs. Harris put down the phone. "Will, can you come here, please?" she asked.

"Which one?" Will Parker and I ask at the same time. Will Parker is one of my friends.

"Will Scuito," she said. I got up and I knew the whole class was staring at me as I walked out of the classroom and into the hall.

"Mr. Scuito, Abby and Mr. McGee are here and are in the principal's office. They are waiting for you," she said.

"Okay," I said and walked down the hall. I headed down the stairs and into Ms. Carmichael's office. I nodded to the receptionist, Ms. Holt and walked into the office. Abby and Tim were sitting, talking with Ms. Carmichael. Well, Tim wasn't talking, Abby and Ms. Carmichael were talking about bowling nights.

"Ah, Mr. Scuito, please, sit down," she said when she saw me. I sat down between Abby and Tim and tried to disappear. "Now, Will, your teacher and I were talking about you the other day. Your grades, well, they're exemplary," she told me.

"You called us in here to tell us Will's getting good grades?" Abby asked. "We knew that already and we're sorta in the middle of a case so…" she said, starting to get up.

"Abby, I wasn't done," Ms. Carmichael said. Abby at back down. "We've gone over your grades from your previous school. They're immaculate; they're so good we wanted to propose something to you and your guardians," she said.

"Ok," I said.

"We were thinking of having you skip next year and have you go onto the seventh grade," she said. I looked at Abby.

"Are you serious?" Abby asked her.

"Very. Will is very bright and we're sure he could handle it. He's not being challenged in school right now and this could be very good for him," Ms. Carmichael told Abby and Tim.

"Timmy, what do you think about this?" Abby asked him.

"Abby, this could be really good for him," Tim said. "My friend skipped a grade when we were in school and it got him into a good college and he's now the CEO of a big company in Europe," Tim said. Abby didn't seem to like the idea much, bit Tim really wanted it for me.

"Will, what do you think about this?" Tim asked.

"It sounds good, I guess," I said, being put on the spot was not one of my favorite things.

"You can have a few weeks to think about this, but I need an answer by the first of March," Ms. Carmichael said.

"Ok, well, we really do have to leave," Abby said. "Will, Kate's gonna come by and pick you up, just like we planned, okay?" she said, halfway out the door with Tim just ahead of her. They all alternated days when they picked Katie and me up from school. Today was Wednesday, so it was Kate Todd's day. It was Gibbs on Monday, Abby on Tuesday, Kate on Wednesday, Tim on Thursday, and Tony on Friday.

"Okay, Abby, see you later," I said. She kissed the top of my head and walked after Tim out the doors of the school.

"Will, you can go back to class now," Ms. Carmichael said.

"Okay, thank you," I said and walked out. I went back upstairs to my class with my head spinning. When I got back, we were still doing science. Abby had taught me the basics of science, which meant I knew everything I was going to learn in school and more. Tim taught me everything I already didn't know about computers and games and stuff. I'd spent weekends at his place when we'd take turns playing video games until after midnight. Tim and I were very close and he'd even told me something he hadn't told anybody else.

_Flashback_

"_Hey, Will, can I ask you something?" he asked me one night. It was Friday and we were eating pizza standing at the counter at his place. The table was covered with computer stuff._

"_Sure, what?" I asked._

"_You like me, right?" he asked._

"_Yeah, Tim, you're great at computers and games and stuff," I told him._

"_What I meant was, you like me as a person, right?"_

"_Yeah. What's this about?" I asked._

"_And you like me as your sister's boyfriend?" he asked. I could tell he was stalling, but I didn't have a clue what he was stalling for._

"_Yeah, you make her happy. Well, happier than she usually is," I said._

_He rummaged through a drawer filled with a bunch of random kitchen stuff. He pulled out a box._

"_Would it be alright with you of I asked your sister to marry me?" he asked, opening the box to show me a simple, but beautiful engagement ring. It had a silver band with diamonds encircling it and a bigger diamond on top surrounded by emeralds that matched her eye color. And mine._

"_Tim, this is really pretty," I said._

"_So, would it be okay if I asked her? I would ask your parents but…" he trailed off. Dad died a few years ago and mom was still missing._

"_Yes, you can ask her," I said. He breathed out a sigh._

"_Thank you, Will," he said._

"_Treat her right," was all I said. He smiled and ruffled my already messy black hair._

"_Of course, shortie," he said, using his nickname for me._

_End Flashback_

I sat in class not really paying attention, I was just thinking about my mom and dad. My dad died when I was six; that was also the last time I saw Abby before she came to get me with Tim a few months ago. My dad and I were close, we went camping with cub scouts together and he taught me how to play poker. My mom and I lived alone for the four years after dad died and then she just went missing. She was supposed to pick me up after school the day she went missing and she didn't show up. At five thirty, my principal came out the door and saw me sitting there. She and I went and sat in her office and at pretzels while she tried calling mom's friend Sophie's cell. They were supposed to be out shopping together. Apparently, mom hadn't shown up at Sophie's and when Sophie had gone to check for mom at home, she wasn't there. Since she was deaf, calling wasn't useful, so we had no way to contact her. Mom was gone.

Three months later, they still hadn't found her. Abby and Gibbs promised me that the police were doing everything they could to find her, but they hadn't yet.

Before I knew it, the day was over. I just grabbed my backpack and left. Kate Todd was standing outside, waiting for me. Usually Katie was with her, but I guessed she was just waiting in the car, ready to tell us both about her day as we drove back to NCIS.

"Hi, Will," Kate said.

"Hi," I said. I was still thinking about mom and my possibly being able to skip the sixth grade.

"Abby told me about this morning. That's amazing, Will," Kate said.

"Uh-huh," I said.

We got in the car and Kate started to pull out of the parking lot.

"What's wrong?" she asked. She stopped pulling out and reached over to me and started to fix my hair so it was a little less messy.

"Mom," was all I said.

"Will, they're going to find her," Kate said.

I looked over at her. "It's already been three months," I told her.

"I know, kiddo. They're doing everything they can. She'll show up," Kate said.

"Promise?" I asked.

"Promise," she said and pulled out again. Then I noticed someone was missing.

"Where's Katie?" I asked.

"She went home sick. I picked her up an hour and a half ago. She's probably sleeping on your sister's cot in the lab right about now. She wasn't feeling too good."

"That's too bad," I said.

"Yeah. And we're working on a case and Abby can't play her music if she has a sleeping kid in her lab," Kate said, smiling. I laughed knowing Abby needed her music to concentrate.

"Especially since she's a Gibbs. I wouldn't wake her up if you paid me," I said.

We pulled into the parking lot, walked in the door, went through security and headed for the elevators. Instead of going down to my sister's lab, I went up with Kate to the Bullpen. I didn't want to wake Katie up.

I got a "Hey, Will," each from Tony, Tim, and Gibbs and then they all went back to work. I went over and stood behind Tony.

"Hey, how was school, short-man?" he asked. Everybody had a different nickname for me.

"Good. Did you hear the news?" I asked him.

"Yeah, kid, that's really great," he said, smiling his 'Tony' smile and holding his hand up for a high five. I hit it and then we heard a "DiNozzo! Get back to work!" from Gibbs and he went back to his work.

Then Tony started banging on his keyboard. "Probie! My computer's not working!" he yelled at Tim.

"You have to do this," I said, quickly typing something that Tim taught me on the keyboard on his computer went back to normal.

"Where did you learn that?" Tony asked me.

"Tim taught me," I said.

"He's turning you into a mini-Probie," Tony said, shaking his head then getting back to work.

"No, he isn't. I'm going down to see Ducky," I said.

"He has a body out," Tony told me.

"That's ok. I'm used to them by now," I said, picking up my backpack and heading to the elevator. I'd walked into autopsy enough times when there was a body on the table. I was used to them by now.

"Ok, see you later," he said.

I went down one floor to autopsy and sat down at Ducky's desk. He was standing over a body on Table Two.

"Hello, William. I heard about your achievement," Ducky told me.

"What do you think about it?" I asked.

"I think it's wonderful. I couldn't be happier for you. I remember one time in primary school, my best friend, Oliver, managed the same thing. Although, he did not make the same choice that I hope you'll make. He told me he wonders every day what could have happened if he had skipped the grade and gone on to the next early. I do not want you to worry," he told me. I was one of the only people who could listen to him go on with his stories. He had so many and they were fascinating. Gibbs and all the rest always cut him off. I liked to listen to them, but I guess Gibbs did have a valid reason to cut him off, he had probably been there for half of them.

"I think I want to, Ducky, and I know everybody else want me to also, but what are people going to say about me?" I asked. "People used to make fun of me for getting good grades. I don't want that to happen again," I told him.

"William, chances are, they'll be the people working for you some day. In the end-" he started to say, but he was cut off by a red haired woman walking into the doors of autopsy.

"How is she, Ducky?" the woman asked him. "Oh, hello," she said, looking at me.

"Ah, Jenny, this is Abigail's brother, William. William, this is Kate's step mother, Jenny Sheppard," he said.

"Ah, you're Will. Katie told me all about you," she said to me.

"She's mentioned you, too," I said.

"Ducky, how is Kate?" she asked. "Jethro just told me that Kate left school early."

"It might be the flu, she had a fever, but she wasn't vomiting. Though she did turn a bit greener when she saw our Captain here," he said, gesturing to Table Two.

"Where is she now?" Jenny asked.

"Abby's lab. She's resting," he said.

"Thank you, Ducky," she said.

"Ducky, do you have anything to eat down here?" I asked him.

"No, he finished the popsicles that he kept in 109 this morning. Other than that, we didn't have any other food," he said.

"Ok, I'm going down to the lab then. Abby usually keeps something in her fridge," I said.

"You should bring her a Caf-Pow! Gibbs has only been to see her once today, and that was four hours ago," he informed me as I left.

Once I'd gotten Abby's second caffeine fix of the day, I headed to the lab. When I got there, Abby's back was to me and she was going between her two computers in front of the flat screen.

"Hi, Abby," I said. She jumped a mile and whirled around.

"Will! You scared me half to death!" she said.

"It's good to see you too, Abby," I said.

"So what do you think about what the principal said today?" she asked me.

"I think I'm going to do it," I said.

"Are you sure, Will?" she asked.

"Yeah, I talked to Ducky about it before I came here. He said he has a friend who wonders everyday what would have happened. I don't want to wonder," I said.

"Don't want to wonder about what?" Tim asked as he walked in the door to the lab.

"About what would happen if he doesn't take this chance," Abby told him. "Now, what do you have for me?" she asked him.

"Gibbs needs you to check the call loges for our dead Captain," Tim said.

"Already did that. Here," she said, picking up some papers from the desk and handing them to him.

"Hey, Abby, do you have anything to eat? I'm starving," I said.

"Sure," she walked over to her fridge and pulled out a normal sized Caf-Pow! and half an turkey sandwich on white.

"Here, I didn't eat my whole sandwich for lunch and I thought you'd want this," motioning to the Caf-Pow! she had me addicted to them as well, but a ten year old can only handle so many of those. Maybe Kate Gibbs was right, she was always much calmer because she drank water, rather than caffeine that her dad and Abby thrived on.

"Thanks," I said. I sat down at her chair in front of the computers. She never let anybody eat there, except for me.

Then, Katie stumbled out of the other room. She still looked half asleep and green. "Abby," I said, nodding at her.

"Oh, God! Uumm, here!" she said, holding out a barrel to her. Katie grabbed it and promptly threw up in it. Abby stood behind her and held her hair back. When she was done puking, Abby led her into the private bathroom in the lab telling her that her toothbrush was still in there. Right after they disappeared, Jenny walked into the lab.

"Where's Kate?" she asked.

"Bathroom," I said, nodding at the door.

She nodded her thanks then walked over to the door and knocked, "Katie, are you alright, honey?" she asked through the door.

Abby came out and said, "You can go in, she wants you." That was all it took for Jenny to go through the door.

"She okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah, puking usually makes you feel a little better," she said. "She's not green anymore."

"That's good," I said.

"Do you have any homework tonight?" she asked.

"Yeah, I do. Math and English," I told her.

"Ok, well I want those done before five, okay?" she said.

"Yeah, yeah," I said.

Jenny came out of the bathroom then. "Jethro, that's great news," she said and hung up the phone.

"What's up? Did they solve the case?" Abby asked.

"Yeah, they found the guy and they're on their way back," she said. "I'm going to take Kate home," she said. "Jethro also said that you two are free to go too," Jenny said as Katie came out of the bathroom.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm ready to take an early day," Abby said to me.

"Sounds good to me," I said, I grabbed my bag and so did she and the four of us headed for the elevator. We took a silent ride up and then headed for our separate cars in the parking lot.

When we got to the apartment, we both out our bags down by the front door and collapsed on the couch. Abby turned it on and sifted through channels for about half an hour before she settle on a movie that we'd watched over Christmas break over Tony's one movie night.

I sat on the couch lost in thought and not taking in a word of it. Abby fell asleep after her caffeine kick faded. I woke her up when the movie ended.

"Abby? Abby? Time to wake up," I said, shaking her shoulder.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Almost five," I said. I would have let her sleep, but Tim was coming over with dinner in an hour.

"Oh, God really?" she asked. I nodded. "Do you mind if I hop in the shower?" she asked.

"No, go ahead," I told her. She all but jumped off the couch and ran into her room. She grabbed her towel and went into the bathroom. I figured I should probably do my homework. I sat down at the kitchen table with my work and finished it in like ten minutes. Our homework was supposed to take us an hour and a half. I knew I would be skipping the sixth grade, it was what I needed to do.

Tim got here just after Abby got out of the shower.

"Hey, Will," he said when I opened the door.

"Hi, come on in," I said.

"I think I'm going to ask her tonight," he told me in a whisper.

"Okay," I said, smiling. He made Abby happy and I knew she loved him.

He and I started unpacking the Chinese food onto the counter and I got the plates and the silver ware out. When Abby came down the hall, she was wearing her customary black ensemble.

"Well, let's eat," Tim said. He seemed very nervous all through dinner. Abby noticed too.

"Timmy, are you okay?" Abby asked him when he dropped his fork on the floor for the second time that night.

"Abby, I have a question," he said.

"Sure, Tim, what is it?" she asked.

"Abby, you're a great friend, you're smart and pretty and funny and I love you. Will you marry me?" he asked, getting down on his knee.

A/N: OMG a cliffhanger!! I know, I hate them too. But hey, the sooner you review, the sooner I'll have chapter three up! So please just take 30 seconds out of your life and review! Reviews make my day and always put a smile on my face!! Thanks guys!!! Chapter three is on it's way.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi guys! I'm gibby101, the driving force behind this story. I gave this lovely authoress the idea one day while she was bored in Chorus and I was watching Jurassic Park in Band…(We're playing the theme in our Spring Concert…It was for research purposes only I assure you…NOT!) She texted me and said she was bored. I sent her the general idea of it and well… here I am guest writing a chapter from Kate Gibbs's POV. And writing in the first person is something new for me…

For those of you who don't know this, Kate Gibbs is the heroine of my little fic entitled "Daddy's Sweetest Gift". She's the 'What if?' that was floating around in my head after watching Hiatus for like the millionth time one day in October and well that story is how I got surferdude8225 hooked on NCIS. I'm an evil fiend…I mean friend :P

But anyways, neither one of us owns the recognizable characters (Gibbs, Abby, Timmy, Tony, Kate Todd, Ducky, Pacci, etc.) But I do have dibbs on Kate Gibbs (hehe dibbs and Gibbs. I crack myself up…) and surferdude8225 has dibbs on Will Scuito. If you wish to play with them, just ask us first!

~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~

Will Scuito has been here for three months. It's been the best three months ever!

"Katie!" Will said as he bounded off of the elevator from Abby's lab.

I felt myself tense up at the dreaded nickname. Ever since Dad had let the cat out of the bag and let everybody at NCIS know he had a daughter (yours truly), everybody had started calling me 'Katie'. I hated it. Before, the only people who could even _**think**_ about calling me _that_ were my parents (duh!), Grampy Jack, my older brother Callen, Abby, and on occasion, Tony. Now EVERYBODY at NCIS calls me that. Not cool NCIS, not cool at all.

The only reason they call me that name is because there's a Special Agent Kate Todd on my Dad's team. And she hates the name 'Katie' even more than I do, so I got stuck with the slightly detested moniker. Don't get me wrong it's an okay name, but we're not the kind of girls that like the '-ie' stuck at the end of our names. It's a little too girly for me.

Dad's started calling me 'Erica' (my middle name peeps) to avoid confusion when I come in to work with him now. It's kinda weird for the both of us cuz it was Gammy Gibbs' first name.

But anyways, me and will have been joined at the hip since he got here; Becky's jealous. She's my girl BFF. I don't think she gets that Will's like my little brother. Like Timmy and Tony, except for the fact that they're like, old. I mean 30 is ancient isn't it? But back to Will. "Willy Shakes!" I said with a smirk.

Will hates it when you call him that. Ten year olds.

As predicted Will grimaced. "Don't call me that."

I rolled my eyes at his predictability. "What's crack-a lackin'?" It annoys him even more when I try to be gangsta.

"Abby's perfected her superglue recipe." Will replied as he fished the clear plastic vile out of his jeans pocket. "See?"

I grinned. That was another thing Will and me have in common. We like to play pranks on people. My specialty is blaming them on Tony and getting away with it.

"Wicked awesome!" I cried. Will's Bostonian vocab had rubbed off on me, I guess. "You snag some?"

"She handed me a bottle and told me to not do anything to the Director's office." Will said with a full out smirk.

"Anything about going easy on Tim?" I asked as I sat up normally in my Dad's office chair. See when nobody else is around I like to put my feet up on the desk and pretend I'm some hotshot CEO barking orders out at people. It's fun.

"Nope." Will said as he popped the 'p' like I do.

The team was out on some case and I was hiding from my Mom. I have no idea what she wanted me to do today, but I think it has something to do with cleaning my room. No thank you. I like my pigsty the way it is, thank you very much.

"I think it's time we played a prank on Kate Todd." I said. "She won't know what hit her!"

"What are you two up to?" We whirled around to see Chris Pacci was at the copier behind my Dad's desk.

"Nothing." I said as innocently as possible.

"Right." Pacci said. "I'll believe that the day DiNozzo tongues a transvestite."

"What's a transvestite?" Will asked. I had no idea either so I just shrugged.

"Ask Abby when you go home, Kid." Pacci said looking uncomfortable. "Just don't mention my name. I value my life."

"Okay then…" Will said.

Pacci finished running off whatever he was copying and said, "Todd keeps her personal sketch book in the third draw on the left. I'm sure if you guys just added some lovely pictures or took some out…"

"Nah." I said. "We want to glue things with Abby's Super Secret Super Glue."

"Good luck with that." Pacci said as he headed back to his cubicle.

"What?" Will demanded when he saw the look on my face.

There was a plan beginning to form in my mind. "You'll see." I told him.

~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~

An hour later the team came drudging back up to the Bull Penn and Tony did not look happy.

"What happened?" I asked. Will had gone back down to Abby's Lab to go do his homework and I decided that would be the first place Mom would call if she was looking for me. I love Abby and everything, but that girl can't lie to save her life! So rather than giving myself away, I decided Dad's Desk was the safest place to be.

"False alarm." Tony replied darkly as he threw his backpack onto the ground and slammed his SIG Sauer down in his desk drawer.

"For what?" I asked.

"A Navy Commander's daughter ran away with her older…" Kate Todd started.

"Much older." Tony butted in.

"Boyfriend." Kate finished throwing a glare at Tony.

"Let me guess," I said. "She didn't leave a note, didn't tell anybody except her best friend who was sworn to secrecy and left her parents thinking she got kidnapped."

"Pretty much sums it up." Tim said as he typed some commands into this computer. "Chill out Tony," he added as Tony began to slam things around at his desk.

"I will not chill out, Probie!" Tony said. "Damn sixteen year old girl thinks she can run away with her twenty one year old boyfriend and nobody will notice. What the hell do these kids think about when they do this!?!?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. But I do know that Dad would kill me if I dated somebody that much older than me."

"I'd kill the guy first and Abby would hide the body." Dad said as he breezed in and put his stuff down and placed a white take out bag in front of me. "Funny thing happened today. You're mother called me and asked if I've seen you today."

I shrugged trying to look innocent. "I don't know what's got her so worried." I said as I pulled out my Willie Burger (no cheese, medium well, no pickles) and large curly fries from Wild Willie's. They like have the best burgers ever! I guess they're from like Maine or somewhere up in New England and they just opened up a restaurant in DC just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Yard. Yum. "I said I was coming here after school. I do that every day."

"Not on Fridays." Dad said. "It's your Mom's day off. Remember that, now?"

"Umm… Maybe." I said with an angelic smile and Dad just chuckled.

"Stay out of trouble." He said as Will came running off of the elevator with a normal sized CafPow!, in his hands. See CafPow is okay on occasion, but Abby and Will down it like it's water and that much caffeine can't be good for a person. Which is why I switched all of my Dad's coffee at home to Decaf. He hasn't caught on yet. He thinks his supplier just got stronger stuff when he gets it from where ever he gets it at work. It's my goal to wean him off of caffeine.

Kate T. just rolled her eyes at us and went back to work as Will handed me a DVD case for our entertainment.

Believe it or not, Phase One of our plan was underway.

~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~

Ducky called the team down to Autopsy and Dad gave us explicit orders to go back to Abby's Lab as soon as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was finished. It was almost over anyways, and I guess the Autopsy pictures were gonna be all over the plasma when they came back up. Whatever. Dead bodies are Hinky anyways, so me having to skedaddle is no biggie.

But anyways, we were watching it on Timmy's computer cuz he was working off of this new lap top that the Director wanted to know would work well in the field or not. Whatever. It just means Timmy gets to carry his computer geek stuff with him out into the truck and not leave it in the office.

Timmy's really nice though. Tony makes fun of him sometimes and I don't like it. Timmy says it's okay cuz it's part of a grown up game called "Hazing".

But anyways, we moved quickly cuz we didn't know how long Ducky would keep them downstairs for. We glued most of Kate Todd's desk drawers shut, we swapped out Tony's Mighty Mouse stapler with a similar looking Mickey Mouse one and super glued that to his desk, and applied _just_ enough glue to his chair to make the seat of his pants stick to it when he sat down. Timmy got a handful of pins in his chair; we put the pointy side in the chair so all he would feel is the plastic knobby parts in his back.

We used Kate's computer to change all of their cell phone ringtones; Dad got Britney Spears, Big Kate got Eminem (Will wanted to put metal but I told him that Kate was warming up to it; she was Abby's best friend after all.), Tony got "Life in the Fast Lane" by the Eagles. Will said it seems to fit him cuz he works until he collapses. And Timmy got the Barney song. Personally I wanted to pick a different song, but we didn't have that much money left to buy another song. We were using a prepaid Credit Card Gift Card Will had gotten for Christmas to buy the songs from Limewire. We were doing it the legal way. Cuz you know we were in a Federal Agency and that would look bad if they got their music illegally at work. Way bad.

We went kinda easy on Timmy cuz Will says he and Abby are like dating or something behind Dad's back. I say power to them for breaking Rule 12. Cuz well, Dad did that too when I was seven. Hypocrite.

We had some more mischief planned, but then the movie ended and we had a promise to keep. So Will took the DVD out of the computer tower under the desk and I put Dad's chair back over at his desk and Will raced me to the elevator. He won.

"You cheated!" I said petulantly as he pressed the down button.

"Nuh-uh." He said with a smile.

~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~

Will and I had been down in Abby's lab for less than five minutes when McGee called down.

"What's up, McGee?" Abby asked as she put the phone on speaker so she could hear over her music.

"Did you give Will any of that Superglue you were working on earlier?" Tim asked her.

Will and I giggled in the corner and Abby sent us a look. "No." She said doing an incredibly good job at lying for once in her life. "Why?"

"Well," McGee said nervously. "Tony's glued to his chair and his Mighty Mouse stapler is glued to his desk too."

Will and I heard Kate Todd swear in the background. "And I think Kate's drawers are glued shut."

"Oh, well I'll send Will and Katie up with some nail polish remover." Abby said glaring at the two of us. But it was a mock glare so I think she was enjoying this just as much as we were.

"Thanks," Tim said and I could so totally _hear_ him smiling. You know what I mean; when somebody's smiling they get this happy tone in their voice and it's contagious. Like the flu. I had that two weeks ago. Not of the good let me tell you.

"No prob, McGee." Abby said with a funny giggle and hung up the phone.

Will just rolled his eyes. I made a mental note to ask him about it later. Like before Mom came and picked me up.

"Here you go." Abby said as she handed Will a bottle of nail polish remover. "Now, march! You've got a mess to clean up."

"Yes Abby." Will said and the two of us raced for the elevator again.

"Yeah!" I cried out. "In your face Scuito! I won!"

Will pouted and tried to push me out of the way to push the button. I was reaching to push the 'Up' button when the elevator 'dinged' and Director Morrow and the SecNav got off of it.

"Hi, Director Morrow." I said with a smile and Will tried to hide the nail polish remover behind his back.

"Kate, Will." Director Morrow said with a smile. "You two wouldn't know anything about the ruckus in the Bull Penn with superglue would you?"

"No, Sir." I said with a straight face. My lying skills are pretty good if I can lie to my Dad's boss and his boss's boss without smiling. "Abby's just sending us up with nail polish remover to help Tony and Agent Todd out."

"I see," Director Morrow said with a smile. "Like I was saying, Phil. These kids have nothing to do with it."

"I believe you." Secretary Davenport said with a grin. "But it's too bad we couldn't find the real culprits."

"And with the new security cameras being installed now we can't even look on the tapes to see who the culprits are." Director Morrow said.

Will and I exchanged a fleeting glance of panic. We'd forgotten about the cameras.

Mr. Davenport and Director Morrow saw the looks I guess cuz Mr. D winked at us before they headed to the security camera room near Abby's lab.

"Don't worry kids," Mr. D said as the elevator doors slid closed in front of us. "We've got you covered!"

"Thanks, Mr. D!" We said together and high-fived each other. Our supreme awesomeness as pranksters was secured!

~o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o~

So that's my chapter :) Hope you enjoyed it! And in case anybody has read my Buffy and Harry Potter Crossover, Sister's Divided, the next chapter will be up soon! Sorry!!! I promise!!!!

Hey it's surferdude8225 again! I know this wasn't the chapter you were expecting to come next, but the chapter with Abby's answer to Tim will be next! The faster you review, the faster that one's going up! Thanks guys! You're the best!!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey! Here's my update with chapter 3!! Took me a little while to write this, so I hope it's good!! I know I'm rushing things with Tim and Abby, but hey! It has to happen sometime, right? I chose for it to be now. So I hope u like it and please, please, please review!!! I love them!!

A/N2: Ok and I'm really, really sorry that it took me this long to update!! School and babysitting and life have kept me EXTREMELY busy and I've been stuck… writers block and all…

A/N3: Also, I changed Will's age. I said back in chapter 1 that he was eight, but I decided to change that. Things just work better now. He's 10 now. Sorry if this is confusing or annoying… Also, I don't know if I ever told you what season this was set in, I'm sorry if I said season 1. It was going to be that one, but season 2 works a lot better. Again, sorry for the confusion!

Disclaimer: I still don't own NCIS… still really wish I did… I also don't own Kate Gibbs, she belongs to gibby101. I just own Will and anybody else who isn't on the show that I made up.

**Will's POV**

The look on Abby's face was priceless. She sat there, stunned, just looking at the ring in Tim's hand. She wasn't silent for long.

"Oh my, God! Timmy! Yes!" she exclaimed. He let out the breath that he'd been holding. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing, it's nothing. I'm just really happy," he said. He took her left hand and slid the ring on her fourth finger. It sparkled there next to her spiked rings that she always wore.

"You didn't think I'd say no, did you?" she asked him. He just stayed silent and studied his shoes. "Timmy, I would never say no! I love you, too!" she told him and threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into one of her famous Abby hugs.

When she pulled away, she noticed I was still sitting at the table. She looked nervously at the ring, then Tim, then me, then back to Tim.

"Will-" she started, but Tim cut her off.

"Abby, it's okay. I told him a few weeks ago. I felt like I had to ask someone's permission and it was either Will or Gibbs so…" he trailed off. She looked back at me again.

"You knew?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, not really sure where this conversation was going. "Tim makes you happy and I just want you to be happy," I told her. She came over and hugged me too.

"I love you, Kiddo!" she said.

"Love you too," I said, but it came out kind of muffled. "Abby… can't…breathe…" I chocked out.

"Sorry," she said, pulling back.

She sat back down at the table and examined her ring. "Tim, this is really beautiful," she said.

"Thanks. I had a little help, I can't take all the credit," he said.

"Who?" Abby asked. I was wondering too.

"Kate. I told her I had no idea which one to get and she helped me," he said.

"Who else knows?" Abby asked.

"Nobody. Tony would just make fun of me for all eternity and Gibbs would kill me. Katie doesn't even know," he told her.

"Timmy, Gibbs won't kill you! I need to tell him! Gibbs has been like a father to me since I started working at NCIS. Ever since…" she trailed off. She didn't need to complete the sentence. Not for me anyway. Dad died when I was younger, but Abby was only 21. It was the last time I saw her until she came to get me. That was why we moved out of New Orleans, mom said there were too many memories and she needed a change of scenery, so we moved out to Massachusetts.

"I know, Abby, it's just Gibbs and all of his rules… Rule 12 to be exact," he explained.

"What's Rule 12?" I asked. "And why does Gibbs have all of these rules?"

"Gibbs has, Rules of Life, I guess you could call them. Most pertain to work. Rule 12 is 'Never Date a Co-Worker.'" Abby explained.

"Trust me, if you're around NCIS enough, you'll learn them, too. Some of them are 'always carry a knife' and 'never assume anything. Always double check' and never keep witnesses in the same room'. Some of them are very useful and helpful, but some are a little weird. But, this is Gibbs we're talking about…" Tim said.

"How long have you worked for NCIS?" I asked him.

"A few months. Kate's been here a few moths more than I have; yet, Tony only calls me 'Probie'. Never once has he called Kate that. Did he ever before I got here?" Tim asked Abby.

"Not that I know of. I think he's just scared of Kate, though. She's carried a gun longer than he has, and she's Gibbs' favorite, besides me, I mean," Abby said, smirking. It was true, from what I'd seen back at the Navy Yard. Just today, Gibbs head-slapped Tony twice in the hour I was there, head-slapped Tim once and told him that he'd done a good job on something Tony had tried to take credit for, smiled at Kate when she said something sarcastic about Tony's love life, and brought Abby and I both a Caf-Pow! She had me addicted to them in just the few months I'd been here. I had at least two every day after school at I spent at the Navy Yard. Katie says I shouldn't get too hooked on them, but it's too late.

"I'm going to call Kate, I'll be right back," Abby said, going into her bedroom where her phone was charging.

Tim and I got up from the table and started clearing dishes and putting them in the dishwasher. We had just finished when Abby came back out.

"Aw, you guys didn't have to do all that without me. This is my place after all," she said.

"Technically, it's my place too, and he's your fiancée, so we get to help," I said. She just laughed and gave me a hug from behind.

"So what are we going to do for the rest of the night?" Abby asked.

"Uumm, I don't know. What do you two want to do?" Tim asked.

"Tony said there was a good movie on tonight. It starts in," I checked my watch, "twenty minutes," I said.

"Great! You guys find the channel and I'll get the popcorn," Abby said.

"I'll help you with it," Tim said, so I walked out of the kitchen. In the living room, I couldn't find the remote for the TV. I tore up all the cushions from the couches and looked under the couch and the loveseat. Finally, I gave up.

"Abby?" I called into the other room.

"Yeah, Will?" she said.

"Do you know where the remote is? I can't find it anywhere!" I said.

"Check my room. It might have gotten in there somehow. I always find it in the weirdest places," she said, walking out of the kitchen with Tim behind her. "Once I found it in the fridge," she said, laughing.

I went down the hall and looked through both of our rooms. Abby's room creeped me out a little. Don't get me wrong, I love my sister, but she sleeps in a coffin. That must even freak out Tim a little. I looked all over the room, but I couldn't find anything. I gave up, and then I heard Tim yell from the kitchen, "Found it!"

"Where?" I asked, coming out of the bedroom.

"The cabinet next to the sink," Tim said as we all sat down on the couch.

Two and a half hours later, the movie ended. It hadn't been very good and I lost my place at times. Tony had probably loved it, he loved all movies. Abby had fallen asleep about halfway through and Tim looked pretty tired, even though it was only 9:30. It was late for me but early for them.

"I'm going to bed. Night, Tim," I said in a whisper.

"Night, Will, see you tomorrow," he said.

I went down the hall to the bathroom and brushed my teeth with the new blue toothbrush that Abby had put in the cabinet for me. She did a few modifications to her bathroom to accommodate me, like moving all of the things she left all over the sink into the closet and clearing out a shelf behind the mirror for me. She also cleaned out the spare bedroom for me. She had put everything she didn't want to look at in there, so we spent a few days cleaning that room and getting reacquainted back in November.

I left the bathroom and went into my room. Tony, Kate, Tim, and Gibbs took a weekend and painted it for me. Katie and I hung out in the living room and played board games and watched TV and stuff. Abby would have helped, but she's not really a good painter. It came out really good and Tony brought over some movie posters to hang on the walls. He had them just lying around and he figured they would look good in my new room. I loved them. Kate and Gibbs just laughed at him.

I changed out of my jeans and t-shirt and put on a pair of sweat pants and the OSU shirt I still had from movie might at Tony's a few weeks ago. It had just been me and him and I wasn't expecting to sleep over, so I had to borrow a shirt to change into when Tony sprayed me with water when he was doing the dishes. He probably didn't even notice it was missing; he had so many.

I crawled into bed and fell asleep, not caring that I left the light on.

When I woke up at 6:45 the next morning, someone had turned the light off and covered me with an extra blanket. Not feeling at all tired, I got out of bed and went to find something to eat. The apartment was quiet and I tried to stay as quiet as possible as I got the cereal box out of the cabinet and grabbed a bowl and the milk. I poured the cereal and milk into the bowl, put the milk back in the fridge and the cereal into the cabinet and went to sit down at the table.

When I turned toward it, I jumped. "God, Abby! Don't scare me like that!" I said. She had been sitting at the table, completely silent, with a mug of coffee in front of her. She hadn't moved or made a sound, so I hadn't realized she was there until now.

"Sorry," she said, smiling. "So how was the movie last night? I missed it," she said.

"It was pretty boring. I forgot the story line halfway through and the commercials didn't help the confusion," I told her.

"I bet Tony loved it," she said.

"I bet he did, too. Tony loves all movies. I don't think he's ever watched one he didn't like," I said.

"He's not the biggest fan of musicals," Abby told me. "The Sound of Music is his least favorite, but he'll watch it. You did your homework yesterday, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did it in the lab," I reminded her.

"Right. Yeah. Of course you did. Sorry, it's early," she said. Abby was never truly awake until Gibbs brought her her first Caf-Pow! of the day.

"It's ok. You should jump in the shower though. It's almost time to go," I told her.

"Yeah. Go get dressed for school, I'll be ready in fifteen," she said, walking down the hall.

Twelve minutes later, we were in the car driving across town to my school. When she pulled up out front twenty minutes later, she called out just as I was about to close the door, "Don't forget, Timmy and I are both picking you up today. We're going to have a parent/teacher conference, so you don't really need to leave your class. Ok?" she said.

"Yeah, ok. See you at 2:30," I said.

She studied my face. "Will, what's wrong?" she asked me. Apparently, my face portrayed my thoughts.

I didn't want to lie to her. Lying to Abby isn't accepted. That's why we don't do it. "You said 'parent/teacher conference'," I said. She looked confused for a second, then she understood.

"Will, sweetie, we'll find her. I promise," Abby said.

"Kate said that, too," I told her.

"That's because it's the truth. We will find her. But you know what?" she asked.

"What?"

"Even if we don't, you'll always have me, and Tim and Tony and Kate and Gibbs and Ducky and Jenny. We're not going anywhere," she told me.

"I know," I said.

"Okay. See you at 2:30. Love you," she said.

"You, too," I said and closed the door. I walked quickly inside and up to the second floor where my classroom is.

The day passed quickly and before I knew it, it was lunch and recess time. I'd made a few friends in the few months I'd been here: Will Parker, Chris Matthews, Tyler Henley, Zoey Riley, and Isabelle Sterling. I had other friends too, but this was the group I mainly hung out with. We did what most 5th graders did during recess, we talked while we battled dragons and spells on our GameBoys.

When recess was over, we went back inside and did our afternoon classes: math and science. Both were very easy for me. Before I knew it, it was 2:30 and everybody left. I stayed in my seat, waiting for Abby and Tim. They were seven minutes late, according to the clock on the wall. I was sitting at my desk in the middle of the class room doing my homework when they came in the door.

The three of them started off with the usual 'hi's and 'how are you's before they got down to business. I pretty much tuned them out, but I got the just of the conversation. My grades were perfect, as was my attendance record. I made friends easily and I was a nice person, yadda, yadda, yadda. I finished my homework and waited for them to be done.

After 30 minutes of talking, it was decided that I would go onto the 7th grade next year. I thought it was kinda cool that I got to skip a grade and then get out of school a year early. School wasn't boring to me, it was just too easy.

We left just after three o'clock and headed to NCIS. Tim was working on a case, but Gibbs let him leave so that he could be at the school with Abby. Gibbs had a soft spot for Abby. Katie wasn't around because she was still sick, so I stayed in the lab for the rest of the afternoon. If you got in Gibbs' way when he was working on a case, you would regret it. Not even Katie would stay for long in the Bull Pen if they were working on a case.

Watching Abby work was fun too. She was really smart and knew what every machine did and referred to them as her 'babies'. Major Mass Spec was her favorite. Around four, I went to go see Ducky. I liked Autopsy and Ducky's stories. Most of the team found them annoying, but I liked hearing about his past. It was really interesting. Also, history doesn't bore me like it does other people. At school, kids always complain about it, but I think it's really interesting. Especially ancient history. It's amazing what people did before technology was ever even thought about.

While Ducky and Jimmy worked on the most recent body on the steel table, Ducky told us about his childhood in England. It was clear that he missed his home, but he still loved America. He might not even have a job now, if it weren't for Gibbs. I still didn't know how the two had met, but I didn't ask him.

When they were done with the body and had stitched him up and put him in freezer 106, Jimmy offered me a popsicle. He had brought in a new box this morning. Ducky didn't understand why we liked them so much.

"They're just frozen sugar and water on a stick!" he said.

"Ah, but there's the key word, Ducky: sugar!" I said.

I left a little while after that. I decided to go up to the Bull Pen and say a quick hello to the team. I saw them every day, sure, but we were a family. The elevator dinged and the doors opened and I almost ran into Tim.

"Hey! Sorry, I just have to go down and see Abby. She has something," he said.

"Okay. Tell her I'm up here," I said. He nodded and the doors closed.

I walked the short distance from the elevator over to Gibbs' team's desks. Tony and Kate were both madly typing on their computers and Gibbs was staring at a piece of paper. He refused to wear glasses, so the paper was an arms' length from his eyes and he was squinting. I smiled and went over to him.

He looked up to see who was coming. "Hey," he said, before turning back to the paper.

"Hi. Hows the case going?" I asked.

"It's going okay. We sort of hit a dead end, but McGee said he's working on it with Abby. I was just about to head down there myself," he told me. I got nothing but the bare minimum of whatever they were working on, if they told me anything at all. He got up and left, so I went over to Tony's desk.

"Hey, shortie," he said, clearing a spot for me to sit on the desk. I hopped up.

"Hey," I said. "I watched that movie last night," I told him.

He stopped typing and looked at me in interest. "Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, with Abby and Tim," I said.

"What did you think?" he asked.

"I didn't get it," I told him honestly. "I got lost trying to figure out the plot and then they put in all of those commercials and I lost it all together."

"Do you want me to explain it to you?" Tony asked.

"No, that's okay. It was kinda boring anyway. Nothing really happened," I said.

"Well, it wasn't boring if you watched it and paid attention, but okay," he said, smirking and turning to face the computer again.

"Whatever you say," I said and slid off the desk. "Kate?" I asked across the small aisle.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Did you watch that Lifetime movie last night?" I asked.

"I watched the first ten minutes. It was so boring I almost fell asleep," she said.

"It wasn't boring!" Tony said. "It was good!"

"No it wasn't, DiNozzo. Now, grab your gear," Gibbs said, striding back into the Bull Pen with Tim right behind him. "We're going back to Quantico."

"Boss, we already interviewed the store clerk and all the witnesses," Tony said. I didn't hear what Gibbs said back to him, but I'm guessing it was along the lines of 'we missed someone.'

I went back down to the lab, catching the next elevator down. When I got there, Abby was blasting her music again. She always did that when she had evidence that she was processing. She saw me come in, but made no effort to turn the volume down. I was getting used to her brand of music, but the process was slow. I could stand some of the bands, but there were a few I couldn't get used to, like the coffin in her bedroom.

When she turned the music down and I asked her, "I thought they caught the guy yesterday. Why are they still working on this case?"

"Wrong guy," she said. "Gibbs thought he broke the guy, but apparently he didn't. I found another set of fingerprints on the jacket. They left to go investigate."

"Yeah, I saw them leave," I said.

"You look bored. Sorry Katie's not around. You can go on the computer of you want," she said, gesturing to the computer in the next room.

"Ok, thanks," I said. I went in, turned it on and started to play my favorite online game. Before I knew it, it was dinner time.

"Hey, you, me and Kate are going out to dinner. Her treat," Abby said, walking in and grabbing her bag.

"Cool," I said, logging off the game and turning the computer off.

Abby and I got into her car and went to meet Kate at the restaurant. The hostess showed us to our table and we all sat down and opened our menus. We ordered drinks and when the waitress left again, Kate put down her menu and said to Abby, "Can I see the ring?" she asked.

"Yeah, here," Abby said, unclasping a necklace from around her neck and handing the ring to Kate.

"Tim and I were looking and looking for just the right one. He's the one who saw this and said it was perfect," Kate said, smiling.

"When did you pick this out?" Abby asked as Kate handed it back to her and she restrung it on the chain.

"A few weeks ago. He's been working up the nerve to ask for a while now," she said. "How come you're not wearing it on your finger?" she asked.

"Down in the lab, I have to take all of my rings off, because I wear gloves and they'll poke through. One time I lost one and I can't lose this one. Now, I'll never misplace it or lose it in the lab or at home or anything," Abby explained.

"When are you going to tell Tony and Gibbs and Ducky?" Kate asked.

"Tomorrow. Friday is usually cold case day, so they won't be busy or anything," she said.

"Good plan," Kate said. The waitress came back with our drinks and then we ordered dinner. Kate and Abby made small talk until dinner came. Then Kate turned to me. "So, you're really starting the seventh grade in September, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"That's really cool, Will. That means you'd only be the grade behind Katie, instead of two grades behind her, right?" she asked.

"Yep, but we'll still be going to different middle schools, right?" I asked.

"Yeah. She goes to a school closer to Gibbs, and you'll be going to one closer to us," Abby said.

We finished dinner, said our goodbyes, and went our separate ways. Tim wasn't coming over tonight, since it was already eight. We both got ready for bed and then played Gin Rummy till nine o'clock when Abby told me it was bed time. She gave me a piggy-back to my bedroom and collapsed on the bed with me. We were both laughing really hard. She got up, gave me a hug and turned the lights off.

As I had on many nights before, I pulled my flashlight out from inside the bedside table and the book from under my pillow and read for the next half an hour, until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

The next day was a Friday, the last day of the school week. Abby dropped me off out front and I walked into school fast so that the snow that was falling wouldn't freeze my hands.

Today passes even quicker than yesterday and, when I got in Tony's car after school, Katie was there too.

"Hi," I said to her from the backseat.

"Hey Willie Shakes! What did I miss when I was sick?" she asked, calling me by the nickname I hated.

"Not much," I said.

"Yeah, only that McProbie proposed to Abby!" Tony exclaimed from the driver's seat.

"He did?!" Katie asked.

"Yeah," I said, smiling. "Abby told you, huh?"

"This morning," Tony said.

"How did dad take it?" Katie asked.

"Oh, the bossman got over it. He just head-slapped McElf Lord and told him not to break her heart or else he'd break him," Tony laughed.

Katie just sighed. "That's my dad."

"Ducky was very happy though," Tony said as we pulled into the NCIS parking lot. We all walked inside, Katie and I both grabbed our badges, and went different ways at the elevators. I went to the lab and they headed up to the Bull Pen.

When I saw Abby, she was talking to Gibbs in the lab. They both looked up when I walked in.

"Did you know?" Gibbs asked me.

"Yeah. I've know for a while now," I said.

"Hhmm… Okay. You keep him in line, alright?" he said, ruffling my hair the way Tim does and leaving the lab.

"He took it well," I said.

"Surprisingly enough, he did. All Tim got was a head-slap, and he only got that by not going to Gibbs first. He's really happy," Abby said.

"That's good. Hey, I have a question: what in the world were you and Katie thinking when you super glued Kate's desk drawers shut and changed everybody's ringtones and whatever else you two got up to last week?" she gives me her own form of the patented 'Gibbs glare'.

"Abby, have I told you how _nice_ you look today?" I ask, backing out of the lab.

A/N: So what did you think? The ending was a little rushed, but I'm tired and I really wanted to post tonight. Sorry if there are any mistakes, my beta is tired and (possibly) sick… feel better gibby101!! Please review!! They make my day soooooo much better!! Thanks! I think the next chapter might be SWAK, but I'm not sure yet. thanks for reading!!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Hello again! This chapter has been going around my head for days now and I had some time so I got it down!! I've been looking forward to it, as it IS one of my favorite episodes. But, this is going to be a little different; this is an AU fic, after all. It wouldn't be fun if it was exactly the same as the episode we all love. Well, I hope you like it!! Please review!! I love them!! They always make me smile!! I don't really know when this episode really takes place, but I'm putting it in April, when the kids are on break. Don't ask why Tony is still there when he goes on Spring Break with his buddies every year. Just pretend, for my sake! So, without further ado, here's SWAK.

A/N2: Sorry, one last thing! Don't forget that Will is 10, not eight. Eventually, I will go back and fix that, but life is keeping me busier than imagined, so I don't have all the time in the world. Also, I know all of the dialogue isn't exactly the same. I haven't seen the episode in a month or so and I don't have it to copy off of. Plus, they swear a bit more in the episode, but Will's only ten. I didn't write in any swears, but you can imagine where they go for yourselves. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. As much as I wish I did, I don't... Yes, I realize this is depressing, but that's life... in the words of Stephanie Meyer (who I also don't own) "Life Sucks. Then you die." I also do not own Kate Gibbs. As much as I would love to claim her, she belongs solely to gibby101. She does let me borrow her though, she's mine every other weekend and school holidays. I only own Will Scuito.

Will's POV

The day started off... weird, to say the least. It just felt like something was off. You know that feeling, like you know something bad is going to happen? It felt just like that. I kept waiting for something, anything, to happen. Maybe the Caf-Pow! Machine would break down. Maybe nothing would happen at all and I was just feeling paranoid. That was easy. Living with Abby, you'd think something was going to blow up. She was a bit tenser at home than at the office. It was probably because she was the _tiniest_ bit paranoid herself.

Yet, after getting dressed and going into the office, nothing happened. It was school break, so I went to NCIS with Abby because I'm too young to stay home by myself. It's okay, because Gibbs brings Katie to work with him, too. We hang out all day.

We got to the office and I went down to the lab before heading up to the Bull Pen. I usually hang around with Abby till Katie comes to find me. We sit around and have our caffeine fixes of the morning and talk about nothing in particular. It's nice, it's our little routine.

But that morning was off. Katie never came down. Around nine o'clock, Ducky called Abby from Autopsy. He sounded stressed.

"Abigail?" came his voice once he'd called and Abby put him on speaker phone.

"Hey, Duck-man! What can I do for you?" she asked him.

"Abby, there was a letter sent to Gibbs' team earlier this morning. Tony opened it. It had a fine, white powder in it," he told her, speaking faster than he usually did.

"Oh my God! Is everybody okay?" she asked.

"I have Gibbs, Anthony, Timothy, and both Caitlin's down here with me. Some doctors from Bethesda are on their way to take Tony to the hospital," Ducky said. "They also have to take Caitlin," he said, more quietly.

"Ducky? Which Caitlin?" Abby demanded into the phone.

Ducky didn't respond.

"Ducky! Which Kate has to go to the hospital?" Abby asked him again.

"Gibbs," he said.

I just froze. I couldn't believe it. Katie had to go to the hospital? Abby just looked at the phone and then at me than back at the phone.

"Is she okay?" Abby asked.

"For now. We don't know what was in the envelope. The Haz-Mat team is upstairs. Get yourself in a suit, take the elevator up, and collect the envelope from them. We need you to analyze whatever's in there so the doctors will know how to treat Tony and Caitlin," Ducky told her.

"Okay, Ducky. I'm going to go get the stuff on. Will's here in my lab. I'll call you back in 20 minutes," Abby said and then she walked away, with Ducky still on the phone. I picked up the receiver.

"Ducky? Can I talk to Tim?" I asked him.

"Of course, William," he said. Then Tim came on the line.

"Hey. Are you alright?" he asked. He sounded worried.

"Not really. I'm scared," I admitted. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was across the Bull Pen, so I didn't get any of it near me. Katie was standing right behind Tony though, so they have to take her, too," he told me. "Where's Abby?" he asked.

"In her Haz-Mat suit. She has to go upstairs and get the envelope," I said.

"Listen, Will, I have to go for now, the people from Bethesda are here. I'll come to the lab when I'm cleared. Tell Abby that I'm okay and I'll see her soon," Tim said to me.

"Okay. Bye, Tim," I said.

"Bye," he said and hung up.

As I hung up, Abby came out dressed like a banana. Her Haz-Mat suit was bright yellow and bulky, as opposed to her usually tight clothes.

"Hey! I'll be back in a few!" she yelled through the suit.

"Okay! Tim says hi and he'll see you soon!" I yelled back.

"Is he okay?" she yelled, looking scared.

"Yeah! He was across the Bull Pen, so he didn't breathe any of the stuff in! He'll be fine!"

"Okay! Don't leave this lab, Will!" she yelled and then went out to the elevator, clutching an evidence bag.

While she was gone, I just sat and sipped my Caf-Pow! It wasn't even half gone. We hadn't gotten to the Navy Yard until about 8:30, since Gibbs said we didn't have to be in until then because he knew Abby was bringing me. So we had only been sitting down here for about twenty minutes before we got that call from Ducky.

It only took Abby three minutes to go up, get the envelope, and come back, but when she did get back, she walked into the lab with some guy in uniform. Not full uniform, but the way he was dressed, you could tell he was navy. He was young, late twenties, and was talking to Abby as they walked in.

He was here to pick up a sample of what was in the envelope. Abby put it in a special case and went about extracting the powder and putting it in a tube and all that. When she pulled it out, it was dropped in a bag and she signed it before the guy left the lab. It took ten minutes and I stayed quiet the whole time. I hoped Katie and Uncle Tony were okay. Ducky still hadn't called back yet.

Abby put some of her music on, but not loudly. We couldn't risk not hearing the phone ring.

When Ducky called twenty minutes later, she lunged for it, putting it on speaker so I could hear too.

"Ducky? What is it? Are they okay?" she asked.

"They're fine for now, Abby. They took Caitlin Todd with them too. She has a cold and they just want to make sure she hasn't contracted whatever Tony and young Caitlin might have," Ducky explained.

"Oh my God! Ducky! I can't lose my Maid of Honor! Or one of Timmy's Best Men! Or my Junior Brides' Maid! I can't take this, Ducky!" she practically yelled. And then she broke down in tears.

I didn't know what to do. Abby was an emotional person, sure, but she was generally happy. I went over to her and sat on her lap and put my arms around her. She put her head on my shoulder.

"Abbs!" I heard from the phone. It was Gibbs.

"Hey, Gibbs," she said, sniffling.

"Abby, have you opened that envelope yet? Do you know what's inside?" he asked. He sounded mad, like usual, but he had an actual reason now. His daughter was in the hospital, possibly dying. No! I pushed that thought away. Kate couldn't die!

"I'm waiting for word from the lab. Not my lab, the one I sent the sample to. It's getting there soon and they're going to call me," she told him.

"Ducky's coming up. Tim and I have to stay down here. Call if you get anything," he said and hung up Gibbs style, without saying goodbye.

The elevator dinged and Ducky walked into the lab. Abby had gotten up by then to hang up the phone, and she ran into his arms. She had a few inches on him, but it didn't matter. He assured her that everyone would be okay and she finally let go of him. The phone rang again five minutes later. It was the lab, saying she could open up the envelope.

Abby walked over to the case where the envelope sat, looking innocent with a red lipstick print on the back. After inserting her hands into the gloves that would let her have access to the envelope, she reached in and pulled out a letter. She gasped and, before she even read it, got Gibbs and Tim on the camera so that they could see what was going on in the lab and what the letter said.

The letter was definitely creepy. It said that the envelope contained Y-Pestis, the plague. As in the same one from the Dark Ages. As in the one that killed millions. But this wasn't just any plague; it was an altered plague, which no amount of medicines could kill off. There was an antidote though, but only if NCIS revealed what really happened in a specific case form years ago to the public.

Gibbs demanded to be let out of Autopsy, but Ducky said no. If Gibbs was infected, he could give it to us as well. But, being Gibbs, he didn't listen to Ducky and walked off where the camera couldn't see. Ducky got really mad, complaining that Gibbs was breaking protocol. About two minutes later the elevator dinged again, and I was guessing that Gibbs and Tim were here this time.

It was them, only they looked like smurfs. They were wearing blue Haz-Mat suits and they looked like blue aliens. Abby and I smiled when we saw them. Ducky just shook his head.

Gibbs grabbed Tim and yelled through his suit, "Use Abby's computer and find out what that case was! I want to know now!" Tim just nodded and headed into the other room where the computer was. I followed him.

"Tim! You look like a smurf!" I shouted to him.

"So glad I could make you laugh!" he said sarcastically.

I just laughed and he got to work, trying to type, but the fingers of his gloves were too big. So he picked up two pencils and started typing that way. That made him look even funnier, but I let him work. Gibbs would be mad if he didn't find that case file.

Meanwhile, Gibbs, Ducky, and Abby were out in the first room examining the letter. It was written in calligraphy and it looked really nice, until you read the words. I couldn't believe someone would try and kill NCIS Federal Agents just to get a case re-reviewed. What kind of sick person would do that?

Then, Ducky hung up the phone. I hadn't even noticed he was on it. He tapped Gibbs on the shoulder.

"You've been cleared! You can take off the suit!" he shouted. Gibbs happily ripped off the head of the suit, letting it fall around his waist.

"What about my team and my daughter?" he asked.

"Timothy and Caitlin Todd have been cleared as well. As for your daughter, the tests are coming back differently. Her blood test came back negative, but the urine sample came back positive. They're going to re-do both tests," Ducky informed him.

"What about Tony?" Gibbs asked him.

"Both of Tony's tests came back positive. He probably has less than a day left," Ducky said sadly.

_Tony wasn't allowed to die_, I thought. _Gibbs didn't tell him he was allowed._

By now it was late, but none of us were hungry, even though we hadn't eaten all day. I wouldn't be able to eat if I tried. Gibbs and Tim went out to, hopefully, get the antidote to save Tony. The return address was on the outside of the envelope that was sent to NCIS, so that's where they went. Gibbs was in a bad mood, but I knew he was sad, too. As much as Tony annoys us with movie references and quotes and practical jokes, he's indispensable. There is no replacement for him.

Duck hung up with Bethesda for the third time today.

"Even though neither Caitlin is infected with the Y-Pestis, they're both staying in isolation with Tony. I just spoke with a Doctor Brad Pitt. Yes that is his name and no, they're not related," he added before Abby could get a word in. "I'm going to go down there. It's not safe for them in there. We can't lose all of them. I have to get them out of there," he said.

"Ducky, we can't lose any of them," Abby said.

"If Gibbs comes through, we won't. I'll be back in a bit," he said and left.

Now it was just Abby and I in the lab. We were both worried and beyond tired. We sat in silence, except for the music in the lab, for almost an hour, both of us consumed in our own thoughts. I was worried about Uncle Tony and Auntie Kate and Katie, even though I knew the last two weren't in any danger. But they had both wanted to stay with Tony, if they got too close, they could get sick for real. Ducky called us a while ago after he got to the hospital, saying they reprocessed Katie's samples and she was clean, there was just a glitch the first time.

Finally the phone rang, it was Gibbs.

"Gibbs, what's going on? We haven't heard anything! Is everybody okay? Is Tony alive?" Abby yelled into the phone.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, Abbs. Everybody's fine. The bug had a suicide gene. It died. Tony's very weak, but he's alive," Gibbs said. We both breathed sighs of relief.

"Thank God! How's little Katie?" Abby asked him.

"She's fine. A bit shaken, but okay. Jenny took her home. I'm still at the hospital with DiNozzo. Kate's heading back to the Navy Yard to pick up her bag. You can go upstairs now, it's clean, they swept it," Gibbs said.

"Okay! I'm gonna go up and meet her then take Will home. We're both pretty tired," she told him.

"Alright. I'll see you two in the morning," Gibbs said and hung up.

"You ready to leave?" Abby asked me after hanging up the phone.

"Yeah," I said.

"Okay, I just need to grab my bag and we're good to go," she said, walking into the next room and picking up her black purse.

We left the lab after Abby turned all the machines off and headed for the elevator. When we got off at the Bull Pen, it was pretty empty, only about five agents all spread out around the floor. Abby sat at Tim's desk and I sat at Gibbs' while we waited for Kate.

She came in about twenty minutes later. She looked really tired and sick. Abby got up immediately and gave her a big hug, which Kate returned.

"How are you?" Abby asked.

"I'm okay. Tired, though. Tony wouldn't shut up about movies, or anything. He was talking almost the entire time. And then we had that scare with Katie..." she said. We all knew what she was talking about.

"You should get home and get some rest," Abby told her.

I know I should. I just had to grab my bag. My mom's probably going to be calling me later, asking when she can come over with some chicken soup. She never leaves me alone when I'm sick," Kate said and she and Abby laughed.

"Well, I hope you feel better," Abby said, giving her one last hug. "Will and I are heading home. If you need anything, call, okay?" she said.

"Thanks, Abbs," Kate said.

"Any time," Abby said and we headed for the elevator.

When we got home, it was late and we were both tired. I changed into my pj's and, when I went to go say goodnight to Abby, I found her lying on the couch, dead asleep. The last time she slept on the couch, she had a backache for days, so I decided I had to wake her up.

"Abby? Abby?" I said, shaking her gently.

"What?" she moaned.

"Come on, get up. You don't want to sleep on the couch," I told her.

"I don't care where I sleep. I'll sleep on the floor," she said.

"I don't think you want to do that either. Here, just lean on me. Go sleep in your own bed," I said.

"I can't get up. Too tired," she said.

"Come on, Abbs! It's only just down the hall," I said.

"No. go to bed. Leave me here. I don't care," she said, rolling over on the couch.

"Fine, but don't blame me if your back hurts in the morning," I said. I was too tired to argue with her by that point. I covered her with a blanket before I went back down the hall and collapsed onto my bed and instantly fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up at 7:00. I got out of bed and went down the hallway. Abby was right where I left her last night, on the couch. I figured I should wake her up, it was a work day after all.

"Abby? Hey, Abbs! It's time to get up!" I said loudly from the other side of the room. She awoke with a start.

"God, Will! Don't scare me like that!" she said, getting up and stretching. "Ow!" she said.

"What?" I asked.

"My back! It's killing me!" she said.

"Gee! Maybe if you'd gotten up last night and slept in your own bed, that wouldn't have happened," I said sarcastically.

"This is not funny, mister," she said.

"Well, it is a little," I said, grinning at her.

"You do remember that I can kill you and leave-"

"No forensic evidence," I finished for her. "Yeah, I remember."

"Smart ass," she mumbled under her breath.

"You shouldn't swear in front of 10 year olds," I replied cheekily.

"You shouldn't tell your big sister what to do," she replied, getting up from the couch. "Have some breakfast. I'm getting in the shower. Be ready at 8:00, okay?" she said.

"Yeah, okay," I said.

When we got to NCIS an hour and a half later, the first person I saw when I stepped off the elevator was Tony. I decided to go up to the Bull Pen first thing to see everybody.

"Uncle Tony!" I half yelled and ran over to him.

"Short man!" he yelled when he saw me. I ran into his arms and he gave me a big hug.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. He looked fine, a little tired, but fine.

"Just tired. Almost dying does that to you," he said.

"We were really worried about you," I told him.

"Yeah, I was worried, too. I thought I got Katie-kins sick," he said. "It was all my fault."

"Not completely, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, passing by his desk.

A/N: So?? How was it?? Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? (I really hope you didn't hate it!) The next chapter up is going to be a mix of three episodes: Twilight, Kill Ari Part 1, and Kill Ari Part 2. It'll be my first time writing Ziva, so bear with me if I don't get her completely right on the first try. Also, if you liked Katie Gibbs (who's still not mine), check out gibby101's fic: Daddy's Sweetest Gift. It's an awesome fic and its wicked long, for those of you who like long ones. And again, please review!! I love getting them and I try to answer them if they're from a logged in author. Sorry if I haven't. And if I don't update for a while, just know that I am thinking about/writing chapter 6! I think it's going to be one of my favorites!! Thanks for reading! You guys are the best!


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys!! The idea for this chapter was stuck in my head all of yesterday and last night, so I had to get it down. This is my first time writing Ziva, so if I get her COMPLETELY wrong, I'm sorry, I tried. Things can only go up from here, right? This chapter is going to be a mix of three episodes: Twilight, Kill Ari Part 1 and Kill Ari Part 2. It might be a little longer than usual, so bear with me. When you're done, please review!! They make my day sooo much better! And sorry this took so long. Life is busy right now. **

**This chapter is really different then the episodes, because I had to factor the kids in and all of that and I'm not perfect, okay? I tried to do it as much justice as I could, but I did have to change some things to fit the way I wanted them to, and things do happen a bit quicker than in the show (but they had to draw it out to fit it into 42 minutes while here I have no limits as to how long or short it is). **

**Disclaimer: I still do not own NCIS, even though I wish I did... I also do not own Caitlin Erica Gibbs. She belongs solely to gibby101. The only person I own in here is Will Scuito, he's my baby. Hahaha! **

**THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATE TO MY FRIEND AND FELLOW AUTHOR, GIBBY101!!! HER BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW, BUT IF I DIDN'T PUT THIS IN, SHE'D HAVE MY HEAD. JUST KIDDING! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!! THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!! **

Will's POV

After the scare two weeks ago, things were going smoothly. Well, as smoothly as things _can_ go when you work in a federal agency. It had been quiet, not even a word from Ari Hasswari. Well, not until he'd killed two pilots and we got a call. Tony, Tim, Kate and Gibbs all went out to where they were found, on the shoulder of Highway 17. That was yesterday. The team had ended up staying overnight at the Navy Yard and Abby and I dropped Katie off on our way home. We were cleared to leave alone.

Today, Katie and I were left under Abby's jurisdiction. We had to stay in the lab while the team was out. We all just kind of sat around, waiting for news about what was up. Katie had been sent down right after she'd gotten here. She wasn't allowed up in the Bull Pen. We didn't know it was him behind the murders until later, after the team got back.

We didn't get any information because Gibbs had told Katie to stay with Abby for the day. If they had to leave at a seconds notice, he didn't want to worry about her. Everybody could tell this wasn't an ordinary case, but nobody questioned anything except for Abby. She didn't get many answers though.

We finally got a call from Gibbs around noon. He, Kate, Tim and Tony were in the car, heading out to an abandoned warehouse where they traced a call from Ari to. Abby yelled for them to be careful right before Gibbs hung up on us. He never said goodbye at the end of a conversation, just hung up the phone.

We all waited around in agony, wanting information. They were going after the same guy who shot Gerald, Ducky's old ME assistant, the one before Palmer. He also held Ducky, Kate Todd and Kate Gibbs hostage in Autopsy. This was all last year, before I'd come to DC, but Abby had told me about it. It was supposed to be her bringing the evidence to autopsy, but she'd had a nightmare a few months before and had been afraid to go down there. She'd asked Kate Todd to go in her place and Katie had gone with her. At least one good thing had come from that: Abby wasn't afraid of it anymore. Ari could have killed Gerald, or any of them, really.

That was why Gibbs was so set on getting him. He could have killed his daughter, his agent, his ME, and his ME's assistant. But he'd just held them hostage, scaring them all. I knew Abby still felt responsible that both Kate's had been down there instead of her. It wasn't her fault though, and none of them blamed her for it.

Lightning struck outside and then the thunder clapped. It started to downpour outside the window. I hoped the team was back by now. It was bad enough they were working a potential crime scene, but doing anything in the rain was harder.

Then, the elevator dinged and Tim walked into the lab. He was dripping wet and he didn't look too good.

"Tim? Are you okay?" Abby asked.

"No," he said.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked him, sounding very worried. "Who's in the hospital? Who's hurt?" she questioned him.

"Gibbs wants all of you upstairs," was all Tim said. Silently, we all followed him to the elevator.

When we got to the Bull Pen, Tony was sitting at his desk, lost in thought, and Gibbs was pacing the short aisle between his teams' desks. Kate wasn't there.

"Dad?" Kate Gibbs questioned her father.

Gibbs looked up, seeing us for the first time.

"Hey," he said.

"Gibbs? What's wrong? Where's Kate? What's going on here?" Abby asked him.

He was quiet for a minute, then pulled his daughter into a hug.

"Come over here, Will," Tony said to me. Not calling me 'shortie' or 'short man' or any of his other nicknames for me. I went over and sat on his lap.

"Kate's dead," Gibbs finally said. I saw Tim put his arm around Abby.

"What? No, Gibbs! That can't be true! I saw her this morning!" Abby said.

"Ari," was all Tony said.

"No, Daddy! That's not true! She can't be dead!" Kate said to her father.

"We were up on the roof of the building. We couldn't see him. A different terrorist came up behind us, only Kate saw him. He took a shot at me, but she jumped in front of it. Her vest stopped it. We stood her up, she was balancing herself and Ari's bullet hit her," Gibbs said.

Abby was crying by now, and so was Katie. I looked over at her desk. It looked exactly the same as it always did. It should look different, I thought.

I started crying too. I couldn't believe Auntie Kate was dead. I'd only known her for 6 and a half months. Everybody else here had known her longer. Tony excused himself, took me off his lap, and disappeared into the men's room. Ducky hadn't come up and I figured Gibbs had told him already. Her body was probably down in Autopsy by now.

After a few minutes, Gibbs said, "Tim, go get Tony. Find Ari's sniper nest."

"On it, boss," Tim said, letting go of Abby and heading down the hall. Abby was still crying. Out of everyone here, Abby was closest to Kate.

"I'm going back to my lab," Abby said. She reached out and ruffled my hair before heading to the elevator. I stayed in the squad room, sitting at Tony's desk. After a while, I turned it on and started playing solitaire. Gibbs had gone up to MTAC and Kate was sitting at his desk. A while later, she got up.

"I'm going down to see Abby," she told me. I started to get up to go with her. "Can I just have 15 minutes?" she asked.

"Yeah, sorry, of course," I said, going back to my game. I had to keep my brain somewhat occupied.

"Sorry, Will," she said.

"Really. It's fine," I said.

"Okay," she said and walked off. Leaving me alone. I would have gone down to see Ducky, but I wouldn't be able to handle it if Kate's body was lying out on a table.

Five minutes later, Gibbs came down from MTAC. He walked over to his desk and sat there for a minute before he looked over and noticed that he wasn't alone.

"Hey," he said.

"Did you find him yet?" I asked.

"No. Tony and McGee should be back soon. They called and said they found Ari's sniper nest. He didn't police his brass," Gibbs told me. "Where's Kate?"

"Abby's lab. Don't go down there just yet though. She said she wanted to talk to Abby alone. You can go down in," I checked the clock, "eight minutes. I'm waiting to go down and see her too," I told him.

"Okay, thanks," he said.

The elevator dinged and we heard a "Boss!" from the elevator.

"You don't have to shout, DiNozzo," Gibbs informed him.

"Sorry. Here are the three casings we found," Tony said, handing Gibbs the bag.

"How far?" he asked.

"About 600 meters," Tony said.

"572, actually," Tim said.

"I'm going out for coffee. You boys want anything?" he asked them.

"No, thanks," Tim said. Tony just shook his head.

"Okay," Gibbs said, looked distracted. He left in a hurry.

"I'm going to bring these down to Abby," Tony said.

"I'll come too," I said, walking off after him.

For once, Tony was silent on the ride down to the lab. When we got there, Katie wasn't there and Abby was sitting at the desk in front of the two computers, putting her hair up in to its customary pony tails.

"Casings," Tony said, handing them to her. She signed off on them.

The world was going slower than usual. Everything kind of went slower. Abby got mad at Tony about something, but I didn't understand what it was about. Something about guns, I think. Abby's our firearms expert, if there's anything you need to know about guns, you go to her. She and Tony were arguing about what kind of gun the casing might have come out of.

Katie came back from the bathroom and came over to where I was sitting. Her eyes were red from crying, I think mine might have been too.

"Sucks, huh?" she said.

"Yeah," was all I said.

"Dad's gonna get him. He always gets the bad guys. And he's been chasing Ari for a year and a half," she said. I wasn't sure if she was trying to convince herself or me.

"He'll get him," I said.

"Course he will."

Just then, there was a bullet fired through the window of the room where Abby and Tony were. Tony threw Abby on the floor then flattened her.

"Kate! Will! Get down!" Tony yelled at us. We hid under the desk.

Someone came running in, I guessed it was Gibbs. All of the lights went off. So did the refrigerator. It was dark and silent. Then I saw the feint outline of someone crawling towards us.

"Hey! It's just me!" Tony whispered. "Is everyone okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, we're fine," Kate said. "Are you?"

"Yeah, the bullet almost hit Abby, missed her by about four inches. Before another could be fired, I got her down and away from the window. She's okay," he said.

"Was that Ari?" Kate asked.

"Probably, but we have no proof," Tony told us. "Let's get out of here. Stay low," he warned. We all headed off at a crawl out the door.

Gibbs came out just as the elevator dinged to tell us that it was here.

"Why don't you two," he said looking at me and Kate, "go up to the Director's office." We just looked at each other. Why was he sending us to the Director? What did we do?

But we didn't question him, just nodded. When the elevator got to the Bull Pen, we all got off, Kate and I having decided to walk the 34 stairs up to the next floor (yes, we were bored one day, so we counted all of the stairs that would take you the back way).

When we got to the office, we were waved in by Cynthia, the receptionist. I thought we were in trouble, until Kate said, "Mom! I didn't know you were starting today!"

Sure enough, Jenny Gibbs was sitting in the Director's chair, smiling at us. "I just wanted to surprise you," she told Kate.

"You could have said something," Kate pointed out.

"I could have, but what would be the fun in that? Besides, I thought you could use something to cheer you up today," she said.

"Thanks," Kate said, taking a seat at the table.

"Hi, Will. Long time no see," Jenny said.

"Hi. How are you?" I asked.

"I've had better days, but this isn't the worst yet," she said. "How are you?"

"Been better," I said.

"So, when are we getting the Temp that gonna fill in the spot? McGee and Tony can't do anything by themselves," Kate said.

"She should be here any minute," Jenny said. Then, as if on cue, a woman walked in the door. She was shorter than Jenny, but not by much, and had brown hair under a bandana and brown eyes, khaki pants, boots, and a plain t-shirt.

"Shalom, Jen," she said, hugging her.

"Ziva, nice to see you again," Jenny said, hugging her back. "This is my daughter, Kate, and my forensic scientist's brother, Will," Jen said.

"Shalom. Kate, you've gotten so big! The last picture I saw of you was when you were nine!" she said, looking at each of us.

"Hi, yeah, that was four years ago," Kate said. "What does 'shalom' mean?" she asked, always curious.

"It means 'peace'," Ziva told her.

"What language is that?" Kate asked.

"You are a curios one, are you not. It is Hebrew, my native language," Ziva said.

"Right! You're Israeli," Kate said.

"Yes," she said.

"Did you meet my mom in Israel?" Kate asked her. She'd never really gotten details of her parents' pasts.

"Well…" Ziva said, looking at Jenny for an answer.

"Yes," Jen said. "Ziva was my protector while I was in Europe."

"NCIS doesn't work out of the United States though," Kate said.

"Ziva doesn't work for NCIS. Well, now she does, but she didn't then," Jenny explained. "Ziva is here to be our Mossad liaison officer."

"This is about Ari, isn't it?" I asked. Through all of this, I hadn't spoken, but I just wanted an answer.

"Yes, it is," Jenny said. "Now, I have to go downstairs and deal with your father's team. Come on," she said, ushering us all out the door. Jenny walked in front and I was right behind her with Kate badgering Ziva with questions about Mossad and Israel and stuff.

When we got to the Bull Pen, only Uncle Tony was there and seemed to be either talking to himself or talking on the phone. As soon as he saw us, he fumbled with the phone, looking up.

"Hello," he said.

"Agent DiNozzo, where's Agent Gibbs?" Jenny asked him.

"Right behind you, Jen," Gibbs said, coming up behind you as only he could.

"When we're on the job, it's Director Shepard or ma'am," Jenny told him. She had to act formal, married or not.

"Ok, fine," Gibbs said.

"I'd like to introduce you to Ziva, she was my-"

"Protection detail in Europe," Gibbs finished for her. "Hello," he said to her, holding out his hand.

"Shalom, Special Agent Gibbs. Director Shepard has told me about you," Ziva said and shook it.

"Likewise. Why exactly are you here? Are you in trouble?" Gibbs asked.

"She's here for the same reason I am, Jethro," Jenny said. Gibbs raised an eyebrow at her. "Ok, I don't necessarily want him left alone, but in custody at least."

"Jen, the bastard killed one of my team," Gibbs said.

"There's no concrete proof of that," Jen argued back.

"They've been having the argument for the past couple of days," Kate whispered to me.

"How come your mom doesn't want him dead? He killed Aunt Kate," I whispered back.

"It has something to do with Ziva I think. They won't tell me."

"I'm going downstairs," I said loud enough for someone besides Kate to hear.

The adults didn't seem to care and as I left, Kate followed me. "It's too intense up there," she told me as the elevator started to go down.

Abby's lab wasn't much better than the Bull Pen. She was playing sad, slow music, not her usual metal that I had grown to tolerate. Her eyes were red; I noticed when she turned to see who had come down. Kate and Abby had been really close; Kate was supposed to be Abby's Maid of Honor in the wedding. Her death was a blow to all of us.

"Hey, guys," Abby said when she saw who it was.

"Hey," Kate and I said in unison. Any other day, we would have called 'Jinks', but not today. There wasn't much of a case left, since Abby had ID-ed the gun that had been used to shoot Kate. The funeral was coming up soon.

The elevator dinged again and the Director got off and came into the lab.

"Hi, Abby," Jenny said to her.

"Hey," was all she got back.

"Kate, it's time to go. Your father wants you out of here. It's been a long day for everybody. Abby, you and Will can leave if you want to. Be careful driving home, it's been raining pretty hard out there," Jenny said.

"When's the… I mean, when's Kate's…" Abby asked, not being clear, but Jenny got what she was trying to ask.

"Tomorrow in Kate's hometown in Indiana; the flight leaves at 0900 in the morning tomorrow and the wake is at 1700 tomorrow night. The funeral is at 1000 the next morning. The flight home is scheduled for 1800 that night. Any leave after that just needs to be asked. You can have up to a week and a half if you need it, okay?" Jenny said.

"Who's going?" Kate asked.

"So far, it's going to be you, me, your father, Agent DiNozzo, Agent McGee, Abby, Will, Ducky, and whoever shows up from Kate's family. I was just told to book eight seats on the plane for tomorrow. Now, come on, let's get home. It's late and we're all tired. See you two in the morning," Jenny said.

"Night," I said.

"Bye guys," Kate said and left with her mom.

Abby and I left not too long after that. We made a quick stop back upstairs at the Bull Pen before we left. Gibbs had left and Tony and Ziva were gone too, but Tim was still at his desk.

"Hey, Timmy, Will and I are leaving," Abby told him. "Are you okay? You gonna come with us tonight?" Sometimes, Tim came home with us. We'd all hang in the living room and play board games or do something fun like that. I was getting really good at video games with Tim's help.

"No thanks, Abbs. Not tonight. I'll leave sooner or later," Tim said.

"Timmy, you need to go home and sleep. Don't beat yourself up over this. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't anybody's fault," Abby said.

"Then why do I feel so guilty? I should have been up there with them on that roof. We should have protected her. We should have…" he trailed off.

"Timmy, he was trying to get her. He tried to get me earlier, but I was just lucky Tony was there. We'll get him. We will," Abby said. "Now, go home and sleep. Will and I will be by to pick you up at 6:45 tomorrow morning and you will be ready. Got it?"

"Yeah, come on, I'll walk you two out," he said and got up. I led the way to the elevator and hit the button. It arrived and we all walked inside. Abby draped her arm over my shoulders and lightly squeezed me to her side.

When we got to Abby's car, Tim kissed Abby's cheek and ruffled my hair before he walked to his own car. Our car ride home was quiet, there was only soft music playing in the background. When we got home, Abby put her bag down by the front door and shrugged out of her light jacket and hung it in the closet.

"Are you hungry?" she asked me.

"A little, but I don't know how much I can stomach tonight," I said.

"I feel the same. You wanna split a can of soup? I don't feel like I could eat much more," Abby said.

"That sounds good," I told her.

Five minutes later we were both sitting at the table, slurping our soup. We had a little contest to see who could slurp louder (she claims she won, but there are a few things you can't beat a ten year old at. Slurping soup is one of them) and then we went to bed early. I have no idea when I actually fell asleep, but the next thing I know, I was being shaken awake by Abby telling me that it was 6 am and I had to pack.

I didn't have a suit, but I had a black polo shirt and black pants. I neatly packed them into a duffle bag along with some nice shoes that I had no idea where I got, a few extra outfits to wear during out downtime, and a few other things I might need. In my backpack, I put in a few books, a deck of cards, my GameBoy, a few games, my portable CD player and a few CDs **(A/N: yeah, I know, who has these anymore, but he is only 10 and, in my mind, 10 year olds shouldn't have iPods and MP3 Players)**.

When we left to pick up Tim, we had just enough time to grab breakfast (a breakfast sandwich and orange juice for me, a bagel and Caf-Pow! for Abby) before we went to the airport. When we got there, we met up with the rest of the team, Ducky, and Jenny, and we all checked in and, when the time came, boarded the plane. When we finally got in the air, I fell asleep, waking up an hour later to find a sleeping Kate beside me and a wide-awake Abby on the other side of her. Behind us, Tim, Tony, and Ducky were all awake, but for once, Tony wasn't torturing Tim, as Ducky was sitting between them. In front of us, Gibbs was awake and Jenny was asleep.

The flight attendant got on the speaker and made the announcement that we were landing in forty minutes. I just pulled my GameBoy out of my carry-on and started playing. It passed the time quickly; the next thing I knew, we were being told to fasten our seatbelts because we were about to start our decent into Indiana.

When we got off the plane, we took three separate cabs to the hotel we were staying at. Time passes by very quickly and, a few hours later, we were all dressed and ready for the wake. Well, I shouldn't say we were ready. None of us wanted to go see Aunt Kate the way she was. We wanted her back.

The funeral home wasn't full yet; just her immediate family was there. We did know any of them. We all took turns kneeling before her casket, most of us in pairs: Abby and I went first, then Gibbs and Kate, followed by Timmy and Tony, then Ducky, and lastly, Jenny. Abby was crying into Tim's shoulder by that point and Kate was holding onto her mom. Tony took one look at me and came over and put his hand on my shoulder. He looked like he was about to cry; the same way I felt.

"Hey, kiddo, it's okay to cry. It's not a sign of weakness," he said, kneeling down in front of me. And that was all it took. Tears started rolling down my face. I saw a tear running down the side of Tony's cheek as well. He gave me a big hug and just held me. After about a minute, he let me go. I looked around the room at the rest of the team. Abby was crying still, not as hard, into Tim's shoulder while he just held her. Kate was still standing with her mom and Gibbs and Ducky were off in the corner, talking quietly. The lady who I assumed was Kate's mom went over to Tim and Abby, who were standing relatively close to Tony and me.

"Did you three work with Kate?" she asked Tony, Timmy and Abby.

"Yes, at NCIS," Tony said.

"She wrote me emails every week and told me about you," the lady said. "My name is Christine, Caitlin was my daughter," she told us.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Abby told her. "Kate was a really great person and she was one of my best friends."

"You must be Abby," Christine said. Abby nodded. "Yes, she told me all about you and the fun you two had. If I hadn't known, I would have thought you two had been friends since birth instead of only having known each other for two years," she said and turned to Tim and Tony. "Now, I know your names, but I don't know who is who," she told them.

"Tim McGee," Tim said, holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Christine said, shaking it. "That means you must be Tony," she said, turning to him.

"Yes," Tony said, also holding out his hand.

"And those two men in the corner? Who are they?" she asked.

"The tall one with the gray hair is our boss, Gibbs, and the shorter one is our Medical Examiner, Dr. Mallard, but we call him Ducky," Tony said.

"Ah, yes, I always thought it was funny that a grown man was nicknamed 'Ducky'," she said.

"It just fits him, though," Abby said.

"And, I'm sorry for all of my questions, I just wanted to finally meet you, but who are the two others who came in with you? The woman and the girl?" Christine asked us.

"The woman is our new director, Jenny Shepard-Gibbs, and she's married to our boss, and the girl's name is Kate and she's their daughter," Abby said. "And this is my little brother, Will," she threw in, even though she hadn't asked who I was.

"You look just like your sister," she said, smiling down at me. "Kate told me all about everyone except the director."

"Jenny didn't start until after," Tony said.

"Well, now that you've introduced everyone you know, I'll introduce you to my family. The man on the end with the graying hair is my husband, Andrew. Next to him is Kate's grandfather on my side, her only living grandparent. The three men next to him are her older brothers, Andrew Junior, Nathen, and Michael. The three women next to them are Jessica, Heidi, and Rosa, their wives. Andrew and Jessica have two children, Alexander and Danielle. Nathen and Heidi have three children: Sam, Kelsey, and Dylan. Michael and Rosa have two and are expecting in a few months, their kids names are Alexis and William. That does it for my family. My brothers and sisters will be arriving shortly, as are Andrew's siblings. I think that's it," Christine said. "I need to go and talk to my husband. If you need anything, come and find me," she said. We all nodded and she walked off.

"Wow, I never knew Kate's family was so big," Abby said.

"She never told me she was a real 'Aunt Kate'," Tony said.

"This must be so hard on them," Abby said.

"It's hard on all of us, Abbs," Gibbs said, scaring us all. Nobody had heard him walk up behind us. "That's some family, huh?" he said.

"Yeah," we all said.

"Well, I don't know about all of you, but I don't think Kate and Jenny are going to stay till the end. I might leave a bit early, too. It's been a long day and we have to be at the church at 9:30 tomorrow morning. You all have my number if you need anything," he said. He lightly kissed Abby's temple and walked off, back to his family. We all stood in our circle as more and more of Kate's family and friends came and went around us.

After an hour and a half, we had made small talk with at least twenty five people and were all exhausted. Gibbs, Jenny, and Kate had all left at 6:30, a half an hour before and we were all trying to make our way to the door, inching closer and closer. Ducky had told us he was going to stay until it was over, as he wanted to talk to her family, but we were all tired, as it had been a long day. Christine came over to us then.

"You guys look beat," she said.

"Yeah, we are. I think we're going to head out," Tony said.

"Thank you so much for coming. This would have meant a lot to her," she said. "Are you coming tomorrow as well?" she asked.

"Yes, bright and early," Tony said and cracked a smile.

"Go get some sleep, you look like you could use some," she said.

"Okay. Thank you for inviting us," Tim said.

"I've been wanting to meet you. We will have to get together again on a happier occasion to talk though," she said.

"We will," Abby assured her. Five minutes later, we had grabbed our coats and were out the door. The hotel as across town, so we called for a cab and squashed into one, Tony sitting in the front and Tim and Abby on either side of me in the backseat.

When we got back to the hotel, we all got out and went inside. Tony stayed behind and said he was going to grab us some burgers. It was past dinner and we were all starving. We got up to our room and changed into our night clothes before Tony got back. It was just fast food, burgers, fries and drinks, but we hadn't eaten since lunch. We ate quickly and then put on a movie. The last thing I remember was Thomas getting stung by the hornet and he and Vada becomg 'Blood Brothers' before I fell asleep. I'd seen the movie before, so it wasn't that big a deal. I didn't want to see Thomas die again, anyway.

When I woke up, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping, but it didn't raise my spirits. Today was Kate's funeral. The last funeral I'd been to was my dad's when I was five. I didn't really understand what was going on then, but I do now.

By 9:15, everyone was in the lobby waiting for Jenny and Kate. They were just finishing getting ready and were meeting us any minute now. When they came downstairs, there were lots of people waiting to get cabs, so we could only get two. I was again with Tony, Tim, and Abby and Ducky went with Gibbs, Jenny, and Kate.

When we got to the church, we were the fourth and fifth cars there. Three other vehicles were in the church parking lot. It was a nice day, so, as we all waited for the service to begin, we stood outside. Christine, Andrew, Andrew Junior and Nathen were already there. Five minutes later, Michael showed up, looking frazzled.

"Sorry I'm a little late. My car wouldn't start so I had to take the minivan. I called Heidi on the way over and she said she'd pick up Rosa and the kids on her way here," he said in a hurry.

"Mikey, catch your breath. Relax, okay?" Christine said.

"I was almost late to my own sister's funeral! It's not okay, mom!" he said, his voice getting louder and louder.

"Hey, Mike, calm down, man. Kate would have thought it was hilarious, her own brother, late for her funeral," Andrew Jr. said. "Plus, it's no big. You aren't late."

Michael just nodded, not looking at his brothers or his parents. People started arriving in twos and threes as the minutes passed and the team, Abby, Ducky, Kate and I were ushered inside with them. We took seats in the middle of the church around 9:50 and waited. Her father and brothers carried the casket in at 10:00 on the dot. It was covered with an American Flag, so you couldn't see the color of the dark wood.

The service dragged on and on for at least an hour. I couldn't listen to the words they were saying about Aunt Kate. I sat between Abby and Kate and just wished it would be over soon. Around quarter past eleven, everyone got up and headed back to their cars. We flagged down two cabs and followed the procession to the cemetery where the priest was already waiting. He said some kind words and everyone was given a flower to put on the casket. Kate and I walked up together and put ours on next to each other. We had been given red roses but there were also white ones and tulips and a lot of other ones I didn't know the names of.

We didn't stay long after that. We got into another couple of cabs and went back to the hotel and had lunch in the restaurant. By the time we finished, it was quarter to one. Our flight was leaving at 1800 (or 6:00 pm to everyone else) and we had to be at the airport by 1700. That meant that we had four hours to do nothing. Tony planned a movie marathon for Kate and me so that the other could have some time to do whatever they wanted. We watched Cheaper By The Dozen and Spy Kids 3D: Game Over.

By the time Spy Kids was over, it was time to leave. We brought our bags out into the hall and Gibbs and Tony put them all on a cart. We took two elevators down to the lobby and checked out. We took three cabs to the airport and went to our terminal to wait. At 1750 (or 5:50 pm) we boarded with everyone else and waited to take off.

We ate some of the snacks that we packed and waited to get home. When we landed at 1940 (or 7:40), we just left the airport and headed for our cars, as we didn't have any checked luggage. Gibbs, Jenny, and Kate got into Gibbs' car and, with one last wave, they left. Tony and Ducky got into Tony's Mustang because Tony had picked Ducky up and they took his car to the airport. Abby, Tim, and I got into Tim's car and followed Tony and Ducky out of the parking lot.

Even a few days later, nobody knew what to do with themselves. A part of our family was dead and we didn't know how to function. Abby only took a day off work and I only took a day out of school. It was lonely to be sitting at home with nothing to say. We didn't feel like doing anything.

Once we got back into our routine again, things felt a little more normal. I would go to school every day, someone would pick Kate up then come get me, we'd go back to NCIS, and we'd hang with the team. Ziva had stayed on longer then I'd expected. At first, she was only here to (in Tony's words) "stop Gibbs from whacking Ari," but, in the end, Gibbs got him. Now she was a liaison between Mossad and NCIS. She and Tony teased and taunted each other daily, much to Tim's annoyance.

Ziva was very cool and nice, though. Contrary to what Abby believed. I guess, since she came in so fast after Aunt Kate died, Abby thought of her as Kate's replacement. She wasn't, though, not really. She and Kate are very different.

After about a month, Ziva started picking Kate and I up from school, on Wednesday's, just like Aunt Kate used to. Ziva drove very fast, fast enough to get tickets, but she never did. Kate and I would hold onto the door handles for dear life. Nobody else really liked her driving. I thought it was cool though, how she could drive that fats all the time and not get into accidents or get tickets. Her driving scared Tony and Timmy half to death.

A/N: Okay guys, what did you think??? I really want to know. It took me forever to write this chapter! I know! I'm really, really, really, really sorry it took me THIS long to post, but life has been crazy! Currently, I have a Moroccan Exchange Student staying with me and she is literally on the computer from when she gets home to when she goes to bed. This means I haven't had access to it since April 27th (the day before my birthday).

Okay, wonderful readers, I have a challenge for you. Remember that movie Tim, Abby, and Will watched after Kate's wake?? Tell me the name of the movie and everyone who gets it right gets a dedication in the next chapter! Thanks for reading!! Please review! I love them!!

And Happy Birthday again to gibby101!!!!!! Check that out! Two happy birthdays' (not counting Facebook) before your actual birthday! And all from me! Your most favoritest person in the world! Happy 18th!!!

(beta note ~ Thank you favoritest person in the world! :D)


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey people! It's me again! I was sitting downstairs in my living room today thinking about what chapter 7 was going to be about and it hit me! Mother's Day! So, here it is! It took me hours and hours to write, but it was worth it! Hope you like it! And I know that I said at the end of the last chapter it had been a month since Ziva had started working at NCIS. Just pretend we're still on that timeline, we just paused for Mother's Day. Please read and review!**

**This chapter is for chelsea1234. She was the only one to get the movie in the last chapter it was My Girl, one of my favorite movies of all time! And, to power214063, yes, I do want to put Chip in. He was kind of an awkward person and I can't wait to see if I can do him justice! I'm hoping to put him in chapter 8 or 9, depending on if I get any ideas before I start writing that one. **

**Disclaimer: It's 11:30 pm on May 7, 2010 and I'm very tired and I do not own NCIS or it characters. They belong to CBS. I also don't own Kate Gibbs. As much as I love her, she belongs to gibby101. The only one I own here is Will Scuito. I love him and he's all mine!**

**Will's POV**

"Okay, so who knows what this Sunday is?" Mrs. Harris asked our class.

"Uh, Sunday," the class clown, Adam, said and we all laughed.

"Yes, it's a Sunday, Adam, but what's special about _this_ one?" she asked.

Allison Kenney raised her hand. "Isn't this Sunday Mother's Day?" she asked.

"Yes! It's Mother's Day," Mrs. Harris said. "Now, what I want to do today is make cards for your mothers. I have paper and everything we need. Its 1:30 now and you have the rest of the day to work on them," she told us

When she finished talking, most of the class got up to go get the paper and markers for their cards. I stayed in my seat, not really sure what to do. Mrs. Harris came over to my desk.

"Will, are you okay?" she asked. She knew about what happened to my mom.

"Uh-huh," I said.

"I know I said for everyone to make a Mother's Day card, but how about you make one for Abby? Only if you want to, though. If you don't want to, you don't have to do the project, okay?" she said.

"No, I want to," I told her. "Thanks."

"Of course, Will," she said.

I went up to the table where the paper and markers were, trying to decide which color I should pick. I couldn't use black, Abby's favorite color, so I chose a dark purple piece that I thought she'd like.

As I turned to get some markers, I saw a piece of paper that I hadn't noticed before. Somehow, a camo-colored piece of paper got mixed in with all of the solid-colored pieces. I grabbed it.

When I did, I figured I should make a third one, too. I searched and found a piece of paper that was a right, sun shine-colored yellow.

I picked up my markers and went back to my desk. Mrs. Harris came over once I had started working on Abby's card.

"That looks really nice, Will. Abby will love it," she told me. "Who are the other ones for? Where did you get that camouflage piece?" she asked.

"The camo-colored one was in the pile over there. It's for my Aunt Ziva, who works with Tim and Abby. They yellow one is for my Aunt Jenny, who's the director of Abby's work. I thought I'd make one for her since I was making one for my Aunt Ziva," I told her.

"That was very thoughtful of you," she said.

"Do you have any tape or glue I could borrow? I want to put some pictures on these," I asked.

"Yes, one second," she said. She went over to her desk and took the tape off of it. She came back over and handed it to me.

"Thanks," I said. She nodded and went off to check on the other kids.

I took some pictures out of my backpack. Abby had printed them for me a few weeks ago and I'd forgotten to take them out of my bag. My favorite was of Abby and me and it was taken about a month after I'd moved to DC. We were down in her lab messing with her new camera and Aunt Kate came in and told us to smile. In the picture, I was sitting on Abby's lap and she had me in a hug from behind my back. We were both laughing in the picture, but I forget what it was about. I taped the picture to the card and did Aunt Ziva's card.

The paper I chose fit her perfectly. On the outside it was camo, but the inside was a bright, lime green. The black lettering popped on it. Underneath the writing, I put in a picture of the two of us. It had been taken very recently by Tony. Somehow, he'd taken Abby's camera without her knowing and was taking pictures of everyone. The team had been working on cold cases and I had been sitting at Ziva's desk doing my homework because hers was the only desk with room to spare. Tony had come up to us, camera in hand, and told us to smile, which we did. It was a simple photo, but I liked it. I stuck it on and looked at the clock. There were twenty minutes left in class.

For Jenny's card, she got a picture of the team and Ducky and Abby and Kate and me. I wrote a little note and taped the picture on. I finished with eight minutes left in class. Mrs. Harris came over again.

"Did you finish your cards?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said and showed them to her.

"Oh, I love these pictures. Who are these people?" she asked. I explained the pictures and people to her. "They sound like some really great people," she said when I'd finished.

"Yeah, they are really great. We're like one big family," I said.

"Well, I'm very happy to see that you've adjusted to life here. Have a good weekend, Will," she said.

"Thanks. You, too," I said. She patted my shoulder and walked over to her desk.

When the bell rang, I went outside and saw Tony waiting for me, just like he did every Friday afternoon.

"Hey, Squirt!" he said when he saw me.

"Hey, Uncle Tony!" I said. He gave me a hug and we made our way to his Mustang where Kate was waiting for us.

"So are you two happy it's Friday?" he asked us.

"Oh yeah! I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow!" Kate said from the front seat.

"What about you, Will?" Tony asked, looking through the rearview mirror at me.

"Yeah, of course. I'm just trying to figure out what I'm going to do on Sunday. I want to do something for Abby," I explained.

"Is McGee going to be over?" Tony asked.

"I don't know," I said.

"Well, how about this: Ask McLover Boy to come over and ask him to help you make Abby breakfast," Tony suggested.

"That's a really good idea!" I said.

"I've been known to have them every now and again," he said jokingly.

When we got to NCIS, I went up to the Bull Pen with Tony and Kate and went to look for Tim, he wasn't there, but Ziva was, so I went over to her desk.

"Hi, Will. How was school?" she asked.

"It was good. Where's Tim? I need to ask him something," I told her.

"He is down with Abby. She called to tell him that she had something about three minutes ago. Gibbs had already left, so I stayed here," she said.

"Can you call him? I need to ask him something away from Abby," I explained.

"Of course, Will," she said and picked up the phone on her desk and made a quick call to Abby's lab. "He will be right up. You are alright, yes?" she asked.

"Yeah, Aunt Ziva, I just need to ask him a question. It's no big deal," I told her. She nodded and went back to her work.

The elevator dinged and I saw Tim get out. He came over to me. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, I promise," I said. I knew Ziva was listening behind me. I could practically feel her staring at Tim with a question in her eyes. "I just wanted to ask you a question away from Abby," I explained.

"Okay, where do you want to talk?" he asked me.

"Is Gibbs' office okay?" I asked him.

"Sure, buddy, wherever you want," he said and led me over to the elevator. Once we were inside, he hit the emergency stop switch and leaned against the back wall. "The floor is yours," he told me.

"Okay," I said. "I just wanted to ask you about Sunday."

"It's Mother's Day. How could I forget!" he said. "I'm sorry, Will. What do you need? You know we've been doing what we can, but there haven't been any leads…" he said, trailing off.

"Oh, no! It's not about mom," I said, catching onto what he was talking about.

"Then what is it about?" he asked.

"Abby," I said. "She's been really great to me these past few months and today in school we made cards and I made one for her."

"That's really nice. She'll like that," he said.

"Well, I was wondering if maybe you'd come over on Sunday and help me make breakfast for her?" I said, my voice tipping up at the end, making it sound like a question.

"Oh, sure, Will! What time do you want me to come over?" he asked.

"Abby usually sleeps till about 9:00 on the weekends, so how about 8:15? Does that work for you?" I asked him.

"Yeah, that's perfect. After breakfast is over, I'll give you two the day together, okay?" Tim usually came over on Sunday's and we all hung out.

"Thanks, Tim," I said and hugged him.

"Let's go back upstairs so you can get your bag. Abby's waiting for you to come down," he said, flipping the emergency stop switch back up, making the elevator move again. We stopped at the Bull Pen and I grabbed my backpack. Gibbs told Tim to stay there, so I went down to the lab by myself. When I got to the lab, Abby's metal music was blaring.

After screaming her name five times and not even being able to hear myself, I realized that the only way to get her attention was to scare her. This was never a good thing to do, because it freaked her out really bad and nobody wanted to give her a heart attack. Then, I noticed the remote for her stereo was on the evidence table which she had her back to. As I turned the volume down to a tolerable level, she turned around.

"Oh! Thank God! It's just you! I thought my hearing was going! Of course, it was too rapid, but still! How was your day?" she said this in the only way Abby can- fast.

"Well, the whole point was to _not_ scare you, so, sorry. School was good, I guess. How was your day?" I asked.

"I've been going over some old evidence. This case is ice-cold. We have absolutely nothing new. Do you have any homework?" she said, rambling.

"No, it's Friday. Mrs. Harris doesn't give up homework on Friday's," I reminded her.

"Right. Yeah. Sorry. It's been a long week," Abby said. This was her frequent Friday excuse.

"It's okay, Abs. Do you have my Caf-Pow!?" I asked. She usually had one for me. They were very addicting. Before I came to DC, I'd never had one; now I have at least one every day after school.

"Yeah, it's in my fridge. I also have some Pringles next to the fridge. If you bring those over, we can play cards while I re-run all of this stuff," she said, gesturing to the meager amount of evidence on her evidence table.

So, for the next hour and a half, that's what we did. We slurped our Caf-Pows!, munched on Sour Cream and Onion Pringles (both of our favorite chips), and she kicked my butt at Gin Rummy. Abby taught me how to play back in early December and I haven't gotten any better.

Kate came down around 5:00 and said the team was heading home and we could, too. We said goodbye and she left as Abby was shutting down her "babies." We talked about nothing on the way home and tried to figure out what to do this weekend. We needed to go grocery shopping, so we planned to go tomorrow morning after breakfast. The weekend was supposed to be really cold for mid-May and we tried to think of things we could do indoors, but we were stuck.

As we were walking in the front door, Tim called Abby's cell. When she got off the phone a few minutes later, she turned to me and said, "Well, that solves everything."

"What solves everything?" I asked.

"Timmy said that he, Gibbs, and Tony are getting together for a guys' day since Jenny, Kate, and Ziva are going to have a girls' day. Do you want to hang out with Tim, Tony and Gibbs tomorrow? OSU is playing and they're gonna order pizza and do God knows what else and they want you to go," she said.

"Sure, I'll go," I said.

"Cool! I think Jenny, Kate, Ziva and I are going to get our nails done and then we'll find something to do after. Then Sunday, it's just you and me, okay?" she asked.

I smiled. "Okay."

"Well, you can go get changed out of your school clothes and I'll call Timmy back. What do you want for dinner?" she asked me.

"What do we have for food?" I asked. We seemed to be running low on everything.

"Hhmm… we don't have any real food, besides cereal in here," she said, looking through the kitchen. "Takeout?"

"Whatever. Surprise me," I said. I put my backpack down in my room and got changed out of my jeans and into sweatpants and took my socks off. I like walking around barefoot and because of this, I step on things all the time, but that's the price you pay, I guess.

The rest of the night passed by quickly; Abby and I got Chinese food and then she made me watch The Princess Bride after dinner. It was one of her favorite movies, ironically. When it ended, it was a bit late and we were both tired, so we went to bed.

I woke up first in the morning, as usual, around eight. I turned the TV on and watched Spongebob Squarepants till Abby got up at 9:15.

"Hey, Bud, you hungry?" she asked, sitting down next to me.

"Yeah, I was just waiting for you to wake up so we could eat together," I said.

"Aw, thanks. You didn't have to do that," she said. I just shrugged.

For breakfast, we at the only thing left in the house, cereal. Abby's not big on going to the grocery store frequently. Grocery shopping is one of those things that she really hates, that, and mislabeled evidence are the top two. If she didn't have to make sure I had food, she would probably only go once a month and buy the minimal amount that she'd need.

When we got home, I helped her unpack and put away the groceries and then went to my room to find the OSU t-shirt and sweatshirt that Tony had given me for Christmas. My sweatpants were black, so they didn't clash with the gray shirt with the red lettering I put on. The sweatshirt was scarlet with gray lettering that said 'OSU' across the front.

Time picked me up twenty minutes later and we went to Gibbs' house. Abby was meeting Jenny and Kate at Ziva's apartment later.

When we got there, Tony's car was already parked outside. The game started at eleven and it was only 10:30 now. He always turned the TV on early when OSU was playing. Jenny let us in and we saw Kate sitting with Tony in the living room and Gibbs was in the kitchen.

By 6:00, OSU had won the game 121-57, we'd eaten four pizzas between us, and Tony had insisted we watch a movie. Gibbs said that he could put anything on as long as it was age-appropriate. We watched School of Rock. It was pretty funny.

When the movie ended, as if on cue, Abby, Jenny and Kate all walked in the front door.

"Hey, guys," Jenny said. "What movie did you watch?"

"School of Rock with Jack Black," Tony told her.

"Rated?" she asked.

"PG, I swear," Tony said, smiling at her.

"Okay, I'm sorry, I had to check. How was the day here?" she asked us, taking in the pizza boxes on the floor, Tony, Gibbs and Tim on the couch and me on the floor in front of the coffee table where at least six empty beer bottles sat.

"We had a great day! OSU won by a landslide!" Tony said.

"Hey, I'm sorry to break up the party, but I want to get Will home," Abby said. "Are you ready to go?" she asked me.

"Yeah, see ya!" I said to everyone.

We got a chorus of 'bye's on our way out the door. Once we got to the car I asked Abby, "So how was your day?"

"We had such a great time! The four of us got our nails done and then we went out to this great Mexican restaurant for lunch before we went to the spa," she told me.

"Sounds cool," I said.

"It was, we had a lot of fun and we got pampered and stuff. So what do you want to do tomorrow?" she asked.

"I don't care. You pick," I said.

"Hey, you do remember what tomorrow is, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, I remember," I said.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I told her. "Honest!" I said, when she wouldn't stop looking at me.

"Okay…" she said, not convincing at all, but at least she turned back to look at the road rather than at me and almost killing us.

"You wanna play cards?" she asked when we got home.

"Sure, sounds good," I said.

She plopped down on the couch and turned the stereo in the living room on. Her Android Lust CD was still in the player, but it was quieter than when she was at work. The neighbors had filed one-too-many complaints and they threatened to evict her last year unless she turned the music down.

We played cards for a while and when the CD stopped, she put a new one in. We had almost a whole wall in the living room dedicated to her CDs. She put on Brain Matter and sat back down on the couch for another game. This time, we played War. It was one of the longest and tedious games I've ever played, but I was good at it. I know what you're thinking: it's a game of luck and you can't be good at games like that, even if you have good luck, but I am really good. After about 25 rounds (and yes, I was counting), I had all of the aces and high cards and she had all of the two's, most of the threes, and half of the fours. Another hand later, I killed her. It was payback for yesterday.

We went to bed around ten o'clock that night, after our many card games. I fell asleep instantly.

On Sunday morning, I was up at 7:30, early, but not early for me. I stayed in my room and tried to be as quiet as possible as I waited for Tim to come over. I picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone off of my bookshelf and started reading. It was one of the books Tim had given me in January when he was cleaning his apartment. He knew I liked reading and still had some of his favorites and told me to keep them. I hadn't read it before and I quickly fell into the world that JKR made up.

When I heard Tim quietly opening the door with his key, I stuck a bookmark in the book and headed out to the front hall to meet him.

"Good morning," he said.

"Hey, Tim! Thanks again for this," I said.

"Anytime, kiddo. Now, what do you want to make for Abby?" he asked.

"Well, lucky for you, we went grocery shopping yesterday, so we actually have food in the house," I said, leading him into the kitchen. "How about pancakes?" I asked.

"Pancakes sound good. Do you have chocolate chips?" he asked.

"Uumm… no, I don't think so," I said.

"M&M's?" he asked.

"Of course! Abby loves those! We bought like ten bags yesterday," I said, opening the drawer where she kept them.

"Well, we'll put those in the pancakes and they'll make them colorful and chocolaty," he said.

"That's a really good idea," I said.

"Okay, you get the pancake mix and I'll get the bowl," he said, rolling up his sleeves.

For the next half an hour, Tim taught me how to make pancakes. It was pretty easy, but I wasn't good at cracking the eggs. I tried one and I got three pieces of shell in the bowl. It was okay, though, because we cracked them into a separate bowl from the mix. He fished them out and then cracked the other two eggs. He also made scrambled eggs with cheese on top, another one of Abby's favorites.

Just as we were finishing taking off the last three pancakes from the pan, Abby walked into the kitchen.

"Guys, what are you doing?" she asked.

"Making you breakfast," I said. "We made pancakes with M&Ms and scrambled eggs with cheese."

"Thank you! Why are you making me breakfast? I could have made those," she said as we all sat down with a plate at the table.

"I know it's Mother's Day, but since you've been more like a mom than a sister, this is my way of saying 'Thank you'," I said.

Abby looked like she was ready to cry. "Will! This is so nice of you!" she said, reaching over and ruffling my hair.

"Hey, if you can believe it, this was actually Tony's idea. I was stuck on what to get you and he helped. Wait one second, I'll be right back," I said. I got up from the table and ran into my room. I pulled her card from my backpack and went back out to give it to her. On the front it said: **Happy Mother's Day!** And on the inside, it said: **Even though you're not my mom, you are a really great sister! Love, Will** and under that was the picture of the two of us.

"Will! I love it! Thank you so much!" she said, standing up and giving me a big bear hug.

When breakfast was over, Tim helped me with the dishes, then he left, saying he had to go pick up Sarah at the bus stop and they were going over to their mom's house for lunch. Abby and I spent the rest of the day not really doing anything much.

After school on Monday, Ziva and Jenny got their cards and I got two more big hugs from them. Aunt Ziva hung her card up on the board behind her desk next to the one from Kate and she framed the picture and put it on her desk.

**A/N: Okay, so what did you think? I know, it was another lame ending, but I was stuck and pushed for time and I had to do something, so that's what I got. I want to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all of the mother's out there! Have a great day!!**

**Please review!! I love them!!!!! Thanks guys!**

**(and this is the beta cowering because this was supposed to go up Saturday, but spent the evening with her family celebrating Mother's Day a day early because I had to work on Mother's Day and my dad felt we needed to go to Hart's Turkey Farm in Meredith, NH {two hours from where I live btw} for dinner as a treat to my mom. It was delicious and she loved it and that's why you get this a day late. Because I love my Mommy more than anything in the whole wide world :) }**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! So, I know it's been a while since the update and everything, but I've been wicked busy and I'm in the middle of finals right now. They've been crazy hard and I hate them! **

**So, I have a little challenge for those of you how actually READ my author's notes: what episode is this from? Mind you, it won't be verbatim (word for word) or anything close to that (because that would involve me re-watching the episode and I just want to finish this, so it's all from memory), but my friend/fellow author/beta gibby101 gave me the idea for this. **

**This chapter isn't that long because I'm feeling like a total failure at this right now and I'm stuck, so if anyone wants to help me out with this, put it in the review! Ideas, questions, comments, anything!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I own almost nothing in this. NCIS and its characters and all that belong to DPB. Kate Gibbs isn't mine either, I'm just borrowing her from gibby101 (thanks a bunch!). Will Scuito, on the other hand, is all mine. **

**Will's POV**

"Abby, what are you wearing?" I asked my sister. It was a Tuesday morning and she wasn't due in court today.

"Um, work clothes," she said.

"Abs, those are not your work clothes. You don't wear suits to work. You make fun of people who do," I reminded her. Abby usually wore t-shirts, skinny jeans, and combat boots to work. Not suits like she did when she was going to court.

"Well, according to one of the director's assistants, _this_ is the new dress code that everyone has to follow. Apparently, my other clothes weren't 'up to the expected standards'," she said, making air quotes and her voice growing higher and louder with every word.

"Abby, chill. Gibbs'll work it out," I said.

"I hate these clothes! Oh, my God! We're late! Come on! We have to go! You're going to be late for school!" she said, looking at the clock.

When we got to the school ten minutes later, I was almost late. "Have a good day, kiddo. I'll be here after school," she said and then left. Abby and I did this almost every day. She liked sleeping late and she was really hard to wake up in the morning.

I went right up to class, knowing I was almost late so everyone would already be there. I got into the room and sat down just as the morning announcements started. I didn't really pay attention to them, though. School was ending in a few weeks and all of the fifth graders were moving up to the middle school.

It was a pretty boring six hours, even for me because I love school. well, not really love, but I like it, unlike all of my classmates. At recess that day, I finally told my friends that I wasn't going to be in class with them next year.

"So, we won't, like, see you after the end of the year?" Chris asked. He was the first one to speak after I told them what was gonna happen next year.

"Well, you probably will, I just won't have classes with you," I said.

"So teachers won't be mixing us up in class anymore, huh?" Will Parker said.

"Nah, and I'm gonna be looked down on by a bunch of older kids," I said, trying to lighten the mood like Uncle Tony always does.

"Man, that stinks. I can't believe you only just moved here a few months ago and they're already moving you up a grade," Isabelle said. "Not that that's not good, it's kinda cool, though."

"That's what Abby said. And all of my friends at her work," I told them. I had never told them that Abby works at NCIS. Nobody there or who goes there ever really mentions it. It's not taboo or anything, we just don't say it.

"I still think it's weird that you have friends at your sisters work. I mean, they're all grown-ups," Tyler said. I never really tell stories about what goes on there, so they didn't really get it.

"Well, my friend Kate hangs out there too, and she's only a year and a half older than me. And she's really cool," I said.

"You never really tell any stories about what you do there. It must be boring, hanging out in an office every day after school," Zoey said. _'If only they knew' _I thought.

"It's not that bad or boring. We always find something to do," I said. I wasn't lying, but I wasn't telling the complete truth, either.

"Where does she work, anyway?" the other Will asked.

"They do stuff for the Navy. Mostly, it's pretty boring," I said. again, it wasn't a lie, more just a stretch of the truth.

The bell rang, signaling the end of recess and time for us to all go back to class. I sat in class for the next two hours bored and wishing the bell would ring so I could go hang out with my other friends.

When the bell did ring, I gathered all my stuff and walked out to the parking lot. Abby's Hearse stood out from all of the other cars there, like usual. The car was so… Abby. Only she would drive something like that. I never really got used to her driving the car, but I never said anything. She'd had it for years, but it still smelled like flowers and a smell I couldn't quiet place.

I got in the backseat because Kate was already up front. I got a "Hey, Will," from them both and then we left the parking lot and headed for NCIS.

"Can you believe school's almost over?" Kate asked.

"I know, this year flew by," I said.

"I can't believe I'm going to be in high school in the fall," she said. "And you're going to be in seventh grade! I'll be a junior when you're a freshman!"

"Wow. And you two are going to the same high school, right?" Abby asked.

"Yeah. There's only one in this town, so we'll be in the same school. God, that'll be weird, but in a good way," Kate said.

"And it's only two years away. You two have to stop growing up! Kate, I remember when you were a little kid! And I remember when Will was born! I feel old!" Abby said from behind the wheel.

"Abby, you're many things, but old isn't one of them. Not like my dad. He has silver hair for crying out loud! Mom doesn't have a gray hair on her head!" Kate told her.

"Very true," Abby said, smiling.

"So, Abbs, why are you dressed like that?" Kate asked her.

"Ugh, don't even get me started," Abby told her.

We got back to NCIS without the Hearse breaking down, Kate and I got our badges, and then Kate and I headed for the Bull Pen and Abby went back to her lab.

Upstairs, Tony, Tim, Gibbs, and Ziva were all sitting at their desks and everyone but Gibbs was on the computer. Kate walked over and gave her dad a hug and I went over to Tony's desk cause Tim was working hard on something and I didn't want to bother him.

"Hey, kid. What's up? How was school?" he asked me.

"Eehh, it was school. Nothing special," I told him. "I told my friends about next year."

"What did they think?" he asked.

"They were happy, but sad because we won't see each other as much as we do now," I said.

"I'm sorry, short-man. But hey, you'll make new friends," Tony said. "Not that you're replacing your friends, it's just that you'll make some friends who are in your classes and stuff."

"I get it, Tony, it's okay," I said.

"Why are you getting new friends? Will you not be going to school with the same children you are now?" Ziva asked sounding confused.

"What, Ziva, you didn't know? Will's going into the seventh grade next year. He's skipping sixth," Tim said, getting into the conversation.

"Really? No, I had not heard. That is great, Will," she said.

"Thanks. Yeah, we found out in January," I told her.

"Wow. That is really exciting," she said.

"It is. It's just that I have to make a bunch of new friends and I won't know anybody in my new classes because they're all a year ahead of me," I said.

"You're a great kid, you'll make new friends in no time," Tony said, messing up my hair like he always does.

"Hey, Will? Wanna play cards with me?" Kate asked from her dad's desk where she was sitting on a chair she'd pulled over from an unused desk. She had a deck of cards in her hand.

"Sure, what game?" I asked. Abby used to kick my butt at cards, till I got good and started getting her back. My sister's crazy, we have nights during the week where we sit in the floor in her little living room an play cards for hours on end, listening to her favorite bands. The neighbors hate her music.

"War," she said, smiling. She and I play that a lot. It keeps us really occupied during the long afternoons we sit around the Navy Yard.

"You're on, Gibbs," I said.

We sat down in front of Gibbs' desk and she delt the cards.

Three hours later, I held about forty cards in my hand. She had between ten and thirteen.

"How could you possibly be winning?" she asked me for the millionth time. Kate wasn't used to losing at cards. Aunt Jenny, at her best, is horrible. Gibbs is good, but Kate's better. Tony refuses to play with "The Evil Mastermind". Tim doesn't really like playing cards, because he's too used to Abby kicking his butt at them.

Aunt Kate taught Katie how to play cards ruthlessly. Abby had taught me. Abby and Aunt Kate used to be a pretty even match when it came to card games.

"I'm a Scuito," I reminded her again.

Neither of us were really over Aunt Kate's death, but we were enough to joke about this. "Kate could have taken Abby down anytime, any day!" Kate told me.

"Please! Give me a break! Abby holds the number one spot here!" I said.

"Well, clearly you two have never played with me," Ziva said from behind me.

"You any good?" I asked.

"Will, the chick plays with knives for fun and you're asking her if she's any good at cards? Come on! Ziva's the best at EVERYTHING," Tony said.

"Not everything, just mostly everything," Ziva said.

"And what aren't you good at?" Tony asked, skeptically. "Besides driving, that is."

"I will have you know that I am an excellent driver. And as for the one thing I am not good at, it is American idioms. Why do they have to be so complicated?" she asked.

"Okay, um, no, you're driving isn't good at all," Tony said.

"Is too."

"Is not."

"DiNozzo, David, shut it," Gibbs' tired voice came from his desk.

"Yes, Boss. Sorry, Boss," Tony said.

"Don't apologize, it's a-"

"Sign of weakness," we all finished for him.

**A/N: Okay, folks, there you have it. What did you think? So, don't forget to review and tell me what episode the beginning was from! Thanks guys!**

**Oh, sorry, one more request! I think it's really cool to know people from all over the world (and I have pen pals in South Korea to prove it), so when you review, could you just say what country you're from? I know that most profiles will say it, but it's still fun to know. Thanks again!**


	9. First Day of School Part 1

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's the latest chapter! I know, it takes me forever to get these up, but life is crazy and I have another fic I work on and I beta for a lot of people and I do have a life (sometimes). So this is the chapter where Will starts the 7****th**** grade and he encounters a few problems.**

**Now, I know the whole birthday thing has been driving me crazy for weeks, because technically, he will be 12 when he starts the 7****th**** grade, but he'll be a year behind the others. So, what happened was that his mom started Will in kindergarten when he was already 6 because his birthday was in August and she didn't think he was ready at five. It happens a lot, so no one should be surprised by this. So, technically, even though Will only just passed the 5****th**** grade, he's as old as a 7****th**** grader. Understand? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. Or Kate Gibbs. Or anything else recognizable in this fic. The only thing I own here is Will Scuito.**

"So, this summer went by fast, huh?" Kate asked. We were sitting in Abby's lab on September 5, the day before school started.

And summer had gone by fast. When the team went on cases, it was always hot outside. Tony would always come back complaining and Ziva would always come back mad at Tony's constant complaints. Tim would just keep quiet and Gibbs never said a word, anyway.

"Yeah, it did. I can't believe it's September already," I said. "I'm already a third of the way through middle school and you're starting high school."

"You two are growing up way to fast!" Abby exclaimed from the next room. "I feel so old!"

"Abby, I told you already! You're not old!" Kate told her.

"You're fourteen and he's twelve! Will, I remember the day you were born! Oh my God," she said, mostly to herself, but we still caught every word.

"Why is she so freaked out about getting old? She keeps saying she's old even though we all know she and Ziva are the youngest here," Kate said.

We all looked up when we heard the elevator ding. It was Gibbs.

"Hey, honey, we're going home. School tomorrow," he said.

"Okay," she said. "Bye, guys."

"Bye, Kate. Good luck on your first day of high school!" Abby said, giving her a big hug.

"Thanks, Abby. Good luck, Will!" Kate said and she and Gibbs left.

A few minutes after Gibbs and Kate left, Abby said to me, "Come on, you. Let's get going. Early start tomorrow."

"Alright," I said. I grabbed my bag and met her at the door of the lab. We hadn't caught a case today, so the machines were already turned off. She hit the lights and I hit the elevator button.

We went home and went about our usual routines. Abby made dinner and then we took turns showering and got ready for bed. Since it was still early, we played a few rounds of Rummy before going to bed.

In the morning, I groaned when I heard my alarm clock going off. During the summer, if we didn't have a case we were working on, Abby and I got to go in a little later than everyone else. And it doesn't help that I'm not a morning person at all.

I turned the alarm off and got dressed before going out into the kitchen to find breakfast. It was going to be about eighty degrees outside today because it was still early September, so I put on a tee shirt and a pair of camouflage cargo shorts.

I pulled out a cereal box and poured some of it into a bowl and went to get milk from the fridge. I opened the fridge door and looked and looked, but I didn't see any milk. Then I heard Abby shuffle into the kitchen.

"Abbs? Where's the milk?" I asked.

"We're out?"

"Yeah," I said.

"Oohh, yeah… I finished it yesterday… I'm sorry," she said.

"It's fine. I'll just eat my cereal dry," I told her. I grabbed my bowl and sat down at the table with it and a spoon.

When I finished, Abby had a cup of coffee, which she sometimes started the morning out with, and was ready to go.

"Hey, we gotta get this show on the road," she yelled down the hall. It wasn't an angry yell, it was an impatient one. Abby doesn't like waiting for things.

"Yeah, I know. I just have to put my shoes on," I yelled from my room. I slipped my shoes on, grabbed my back pack, and hit the lights on the way out of my room.

"You good?" she asked from the doorway.

"Yeah. All set," I said.

"Good. You don't wanna be late," she said and we left the apartment.

We went down two flights of stairs, out into the parking lot, and climbed into the hearse. We drove in silence for a minute, then Abby reached over and turned the radio on. It was the one thing in the car that always worked.

When we reached the school five minutes later, she stopped out front to let me out.

"Hey, good luck today. I know you'll do great," she said.

"Thanks," I said, not fully convinced.

"Don't sound like that. You're gonna have fun! I don't know who's picking you up today, but someone will. And then I'll see you when you get to NCIS, okay?" she said.

"Yeah, Abbs. See you then," I said and closed the door before she could say anything else.

I walked up to the front doors of the school and walked in. At the end of fifth grade, we'd been given a tour of the school and I'd been shown where my home room would be. It was ten minutes before the bell rang and there were only about five other people in the room. The teacher was there, too. Her desk was almost right in front of where you walked into the door.

"Hi, my name's Ms. Gibson. You are?" she asked.

"William Scuito," I told her, trying not to smile at her name. She seemed nothing like Gibbs, but, then again, nobody is quite like Gibbs.

She looked at a list for a second before she found my name. "Ah, yes, here you are, William. Okay, so here's an assignment notebook," she said, handing it to me, "and your schedule is right," she said, shuffling through some other student's, "here," she said and handed that to me, too.

"Thank you," I said.

"Now, I just want you to know that if you need anything, you can ask me. I know you're new here and probably don't know your way around as good as the others do. So come here if you need directions, alright?" she said.

"Okay. Thanks," I said.

"You can sit anywhere in here, there are no assigned seats," she said, gesturing to the desks in the room.

I nodded and sat down at a desk in the second row, about six seats away from the door and examined my schedule. I had history first with Mr. Peters, then English with Mr. McCoy, then I had a different extra-curricular activity every day, then science with Ms. Gibson, then Spanish with Ms. Cortez, then math with Mr. Dillon, then I end the day with another extra-curricular. Today, Wednesday, for extra-curricular activities I had computers and Gym.

Other students filed into the classroom over the next eight minutes, a few walked in right before the bell rang. Some gave me strange looks, others didn't even make eye contact with me. There were about twenty five kids in the room when the bell rang.

We spent longer in homeroom today than we would any other day because our teachers had to give us locks and assign lockers. It took about half an hour. Before we did that, though, Principal Michaelson did the morning announcements, just like he'd be doing every morning for the rest of the year. At the end of the announcements, he told us to stay in homeroom until he made the announcement to go to first period.

Finally, and after a little bit of chaos, the announcement was made by the principal and we all filed to first period. I was on the first floor of the two floors of the school and I knew from looking at the room number, A22, that my history class was next door to my homeroom, also my science class. I walked out the door, turned left, and checked the number on the door of the next room over before walking in. I was right.

I didn't recognize anyone in the classroom and as everyone was walking in, Mr. Peters, or the person who I assumed was Mr. Peters, told everyone to just sit anywhere. I chose the seat in the front row on the end. There were only about five empty seats once everyone was sitting down.

He did roll call and then Mr. Peters went on to explain that, as we all knew, he taught ancient history and it was "a fascinating subject." I noticed that a lot of people rolled their eyes when he said that. Twelve year olds aren't generally interested in ancient history. He said he'd hand out our books on Monday, but we could leave them in our lockers because he didn't want us to break our backs carrying them home with all of our other books. Everyone looked happier when he said that.

He gave us a few minutes to talk and "get re-acquainted with each other" before the bell rang for second period. I was just planning on sitting there quietly, when someone next to me said, "Hey."

I turned to my left. There was a boy with sandy blonde hair, brown eyes, and a few freckles on his face looking at me.

"Hey," I said back.

"Are you new here?" he asked. "I've never seen you around."

"Yeah, I am," I said.

"My name's Quinn O'Brian. What's yours?" he asked.

"Will Scuito," I said.

"Do you need anyone to show you around? Where are you from, anyway?" he asked me.

"I'm actually from around here," I told him.

"Oh, you just moved districts," he said knowingly.

"Yeah," I said. That was easier than telling him that I was a smarty-pants who skipped the sixth grade.

"Do you know where you're going from here?" he asked.

"English with Mr. McCoy," I told him.

He looked at his schedule. "Hey! I have him next, too!" he said.

"Cool," I said.

"So, hey, since you're new here, do you wanna sit with me and my friends at lunch? You probably don't know too many people here," Quinn said.

"No, I don't. Thanks," I said. So I wasn't a total outcast here.

"No problem," he said. The bell went off then. Everybody shuffled around us, gathering backpacks and pens and notebooks. "Come on," Quinn said. He grabbed his backpack and I did the same and followed him out of the room.

We walked down the hallway and took a right at the end. There were two classrooms there and he led me into the one closer to the stairs by the gym. This classroom was a little smaller than Mr. Peters', but it had a lot of books. There were shelves everywhere and there wasn't room for another book on any of them. On the top shelves, there were boxes and there were books sticking out of those. It was a little crazy.

Everyone was seated when Mr. McCoy walked in. He was young, probably about thirty, with dark brown hair, hazel eyes, about six feet, maybe taller and didn't look extremely professional. His blue pin-stripe shirt wasn't tucked in, he wasn't wearing a tie, and his pants weren't ironed. He looked like a nice guy.

When he started talking, he talked about books he'd read, books we'd read this year, and other things we'd be doing. English was a strong point for me, so this didn't sound like it'd be a hard year. I knew I liked Mr. McCoy though. He was a cool teacher, I knew it already.

He talked for most of the time that he had, which was a little less than a usual class time. Some people looked a little bored, but I thought it was interesting. He told some stories about his friend who's an author and he looked surprised when the bell rang. He said he'd hand out our first books of the year tomorrow and to have a great day.

Outside the classroom, Quinn talked for the first time in about twenty five minutes. "So, where to next?" he asked me.

"Computers. You?" I asked him.

"Woodshop. Do you know where it is?" he asked.

"Nah, but I'll find it," I told him.

"Okay, I'll see you at lunch. I'll save you a seat," he told me.

"Thanks. See you then," I said and walked off. The number of the room had a 'B' in front of it, so it was on the second floor. The teacher was Mr. Griffith.

I walked up the stairs and looked at the numbers on the doors. Computers was in room 31B and the numbers in front of me were in the teens. I followed the numbers up through the teens then the twenties until I came to the right room. The number and the name on the door matched my schedule, so I walked in.

There was a middle aged man sitting at his desk, which was a few feet from the door, when I walked in. he looked up when I walked through the door.

"Hello, my name is Mr. Griffith," he said.

"Will Scuito," I said.

He scanned the list looking for my name and looked back up at me when he found it. "Alright, you're where you're supposed to be. Are you new here?" he asked.

"Yes," I told him.

"Okay, well, see that shelf right there?" he asked, pointing to a shelf that had some students' things stacked on it. I nodded. "You can put your stuff there when you come into the room. You can sit wherever you want in the room, okay?" he said.

"Okay, thanks," I said. I went over to the shelf and put my bag on the ground next to it, then turned to the room to pick a seat. There were lab tables around the room, each with two computers on them. I picked a seat at a table that was empty on the left side of the classroom. The room filled around me.

After a few minutes, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around. There was a girl standing there. She was pretty; she had brown hair, pulled back into a neat pony tail on the back of her head, sparkling blue eyes, and freckles on her face. She was wearing a gray tee shirt that said 'Army' and light blue jeans.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi."

"Can I sit here?" she asked, pointing to the chair next to mine. "I don't like that guy over there. He annoys me," she said, motioning to a big kid on the other side of the room. He looked intimidating.

"Sure," I said. She smiled and sat down next to me.

"Thanks. My name's Kellie Martin. What's yours?" she asked.

"Will Scuito," I told her.

"Are you new here?" she asked me.

"Yeah," I said.

"Have you gotten lost yet?" she asked smiling.

"Nope, I found my way to my first class, and then my friend showed me the way to my second class. It wasn't hard finding this room, though," I said.

"My first year here, I got lost a lot, but everyone did. Who showed you to your class?"

"Quinn O'Brian," I told her.

"Oh, I know him! He's really nice. I've known him since elementary school," she told me.

"Cool," I said.

Our conversation would have gone longer, but Mr. Griffith started the class. It was a special, so we'd only be here twice a week for the first quarter of the year. We'd be doing some projects and we'd be graded on how well we did them. I knew a lot about computers already from Tim, so I knew he wouldn't be teaching me anything new.

When he finished talking, Kellie and I went back to talking. "So where are you going next?" she asked me.

"Science. It's my homeroom, so I know the way," I said.

"Ms. Gibson? I have her too!" Kellie smiled.

"She almost has the same name as my best friends' father. But his name is Gibbs," I told her.

"Does she go to school here?" Kellie asked.

"No, she's a freshman at Paul VI this year," I said.

"Does she have any brothers or sisters here?"

"She has a little brother, but he's still a baby. Do you have any brothers or sisters?" I asked her.

"I'm the middle of five. I have two older brothers and a little sister and a little brother. My brothers are at Paul VI, too. My little sister's in sixth grade here and my little brother's in fourth grade," she told me.

"Wow, that's a lot of kids," I said.

"Do you have siblings?" she asked me.

"I live with my older sister, Abby. She works for the government," I said. We never say where Abby, Tim, Gibbs, Tony, Ziva, and Ducky work unless it's to gain access to a crime scene or evidence.

"That's cool," she said and then the bell rang.

"Let's go," I said. We grabbed our stuff from the shelves and left the room. I led the way back downstairs and to Ms. Gibson's room.

We took seats next to each other in the front of the room. We were just talking about classes and stuff when someone called Kellie's name.

"Hey, Kellie!" someone called from behind us.

We turned around. It was the kid from computers that Kellie said she didn't like. "What do you want, Reece?" she asked him.

"Who's the new kid?" he asked.

"My friend. Just leave us alone, will you?" she said.

"What? You won't even introduce me to your new boyfriend?" he asked.

"He's not my boyfriend," she said, her face turning a little pink.

"But you're blushing, Kels," he said.

"I am not. Just go away," she said again.

"Is there a problem here?" asked a voice. We all looked up to see Ms. Gibson standing in front of us.

"No, ma'am. I was just introducing myself to the new kid," Reece said innocently, but Ms. Gibson saw right through him.

"Why don't you go sit over there, Mr. Montgomery," she said to Reece, pointing to the other side of the room. "And leave these two alone."

Reece left and Ms. Gibson started talking about what we'd be covering this year. Before we knew it, it was time to go to our next class.

Out in the hall, Kellie asked me, "What class do you have next?'

"Spanish," I said.

"Oh, I have math. I'll see you at lunch," she said and went the opposite way down the hall. My class was upstairs and I went up and found it without any trouble.

I walked into the room and blinked a few times. The room seemed very bright. It was painted a too-cheerful-for-school shade of yellow and there were posters all over the walls that were all in Spanish. The teacher's desk was on the other side of the room and there were a few kids in front of it, so I figured that our teacher wanted us to check in.

"Hola," Ms. Cortez said when I approached her desk.

"Hola," I said back. I had taken minimal Spanish back in elementary school.

"What is your name?" she asked in a slightly accented English accent.

"Will Scuito," I told her.

She found my name on the list and pointed to a desk. "You sit there. I like to have my students in alphabetical order," she explained.

"Okay," I said and walked over to the desk. It was in the middle of the second to last row on the left. There were a few familiar faces in the room, but none I knew by name. Only two people had introduced themselves to me today, and neither of them were here.

When Ms. Cortez got started, she spoke half in English and half in Spanish. I understood some of it, but the rest of the class had a year's advantage on me. A bell rang halfway through the class and everybody got up. On the announcements, the principal had said that seventh graders had second lunch, so I assumed that was what the bell was for.

As everybody was shuffling around, Ms. Cortez told us we could leave our stuff in the classroom while we were at lunch. I didn't know where I was going, so I just followed the crowd. We went down two flights of stairs and I saw the café instantly. It was a big, open room with a bunch of tables lined up in rows, each sitting twelve people.

Everyone was getting in one of three lines to get food, so I followed them. I got in the shortest line and grabbed a burger, paid for it, and looked around the room. I didn't know where Quinn or Kellie were and I couldn't find them in the massive crowd. Then someone tapped me on the shoulder.

"Lost?" I heard a voice from behind.

I turned around, it was Quinn. "Hey," I said.

"Come on, we sit over there," he said, pointing to a table by the doors that lead outside. There were a few other people there, but the table wasn't full.

I followed him and sat down across from him and unwrapped my burger while he introduced me to everyone. There were four others, so far: Alexa, who was very average, yet striking, I also had history with her; Ian, who I had no classes with, he was a major class clown and kept everybody laughing; Joel, who was quiet, but very smart, I had computers and Spanish with him; and Karly, who had blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and was really nice, I had math with her next and she said she'd save me a seat.

After I was introduced to everyone, Kellie came over and sat next to me at the table.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi."

"So, you know everybody now?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"I've known everybody here except Karly since first grade," she told me. "Quinn and I have always been best friends and Alexa, Joel, Ian and I have always been close."

"Wow," I said.

"So, tell me about your friends, from your other school. What were they like?" she asked.

"Their names are Chris, Zoey, Isabelle, Will, and Tyler," I told her. "I met them when I moved here from Massachusetts in the middle of fifth grade."

"How come you moved? Sorry, personal question. You don't have to answer that if you don't want," she said, blushing a little.

"No, it's okay. My mom, she went missing, so I had to come live here with my older sister," I explained.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry, Will," she said.

"Thanks. There haven't been any leads, as far as I know, but they'll find her," I said.

"I know what you're going through. My dad died a few years ago. It was a drunk driver," she told me.

"Oh, man," I said. "That just really sucks."

"Yeah. How come you live with your sister and not your dad? Sorry, too personal again?" she asked.

"No, it's fine. My dad died when I was really little. If it wasn't for Abby, I'd be in foster care," I told her.

"So, getting off of the heavy, is Abby your only sibling?" she asked.

"Yeah, just the two of us," I said.

"Being one of five is hard. Sometimes I wish I was an only child. Nathan and Brandon, my older brothers, drive me crazy all the time. Erin wants to be just like me, it's cute and annoying at the same time. And Ethan, he wants to be just like Nathan. Nathan's captain of the football team, this all-American kid who's probably gonna get into every college he applies to. Brandon's the opposite of him; he slacks off in class and doesn't play any sports. He drives my mom crazy. Why am I telling you all of this?" she asked. "Sorry, I ramble sometimes," she explained.

"It's fine. My sister and my friend do it, too. It's fine," I said, smiling. She smiled back.

We looked up when we heard the teachers saying something. I couldn't hear it, but Kellie had, and she just shook her head and started eating again.

"What did they say?" I asked.

"Lunch is over in five minutes. You should eat. I hate being watched if other people aren't eating," she said.

I just laughed and took another bite of my burger. I really liked her.

**A/N: Okay, yeah, I didn't finish the chapter. Don't be mad! I'm gonna write more! Promise! I just felt like that would be a good place to end it. Plus, I wanted to get this up ASAP, 'cause I might not update again till August. It all depends on if I can finish Part 2 of this chapter before I go on vacation for a week then go to camp. **

****The more reviews I get might influence whether or not chapter 10 goes up before the 10****th**** of August.**

**Thanks for reading, guys! Review!**


	10. First Day of School Part 2

**A/N: Well, would you look at that, it's the 13****th****, and it's Friday, and its 3 days after I said I'd update. I'M SORRY! I didn't mean to put it off this long, but I haven't been in the right mood to write, but then I sat down and wrote this in about an hour. That's what guilt will do to you. Well, I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own this stuff. Well, I own Will Scuito, his friends, the plot, and anything else you don't recognize from the show. My friend, gibby101, owns Kate Gibbs, I just borrow her. Anything you do recognize from the show belongs to CBS and DPB.**

**Will's POV**

The rest of Spanish class was pretty annoying. I'm used to being good at school, no matter what subject, but this class stumped me. I could only pick out a handful of the words she said after we got back from lunch because she spoke only in Spanish. I was so relieved when the bell rang for sixth period.

Math was downstairs; I knew that because Quinn showed me where it was when we were waiting to go into English class. I never would have found it otherwise.

I looked around for Karly when I walked into the room and found her sitting alone at a lab table, staring down the door. She waved me over when she saw me.

"Hey!" she said as I sat down on her left.

"Hey, thanks for saving me a seat," I said.

"It's no problem. And on the plus side, Reese is all the way across the room," she said, pointing.

"What's his deal? How come you guys don't like him? Kellie seems to hat him," I said.

"Honestly, I don't know what his deal is, but it's like his life's goal to torture us, us as in me, Kellie, Joel, Ian, Alexa, and Quinn. And probably you too, now, because you hang with us. So, sorry about that," she said.

We would have gone on talking, but Mr. Dillon walked into the room and everyone fell silent. It's not that he was a scary man or anything, but he brought with him an essence of authority. He commanded the attention of the room, a lot like Gibbs usually does.

His speech got boring about three words in, so I tuned it out. It was all about how this class could be fun, but we had to earn it first. We would have homework every night and this wouldn't be a class to goof off in. I think he pretty much scared the wits out of half the class. Not me, though, and Karly didn't seem fazed either.

Everyone scrambled to leave when the bell rang. There was half an hour left of school and everyone was itching to leave. I said goodbye to Karly and headed for the gym, which was about a thirty second walk from math class.

When I walked into the room, I scanned it for faces I knew, but saw none. So I took a seat on the bleachers by myself and waited for class to start. Again, I was one of the first people there, because my last class was so close, so people kept walking in. Finally, I heard a voice I knew. Not that I wanted to hear it, of course.

"Well, look at this. Kellie's little boyfriend is sitting all by himself. No girlfriend around to protect him here."

I almost groaned out loud. Why did I have to have so many classes with Reese? "What do you want now?" I asked him.

"Oh, nothing. Just wanted to know why you're not cowering behind your girlfriend's back. Oh wait, I know why! She isn't here!"

"You already said that," I pointed out.

"Shut up!" he said.

"It's a free country, I can say whatever I want," I said evenly.

"No, actually, you can't."

"Um, yes, actually, I can," I said back. "You don't scare me. Aren't bully's supposed to be scary?"

Okay, what happened next was partially my fault. But he was getting on my nerves. He punched me. In the face. It hurt so much and he probably fractured my nose. I don't remember everything, just a lot of blood and some yelling.

When I opened my eyes again, I was in the nurse's office and my nose was throbbing and my entire face hurt.

I heard someone say, "Hey, I think he's awake." But it sounded like they were walking from the other end of a tunnel. Then I heard a little more clearly, "Will, stay lying down. Don't try to sit up." But I still couldn't recognize the voice and my vision was a little blurry.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," I heard a different voice say. It sounded much closer this time. "How're you holding up, squirt?" I knew that voice. It was Tony.

"My face hurts," I told him, trying to clear my vision.

"Oh, my God! Will, you scared the life out of me! Oh, God are you okay?" I knew that voice too. So well. It was Abby.

"I'm okay, Abbs," I moaned, sounding anything but fine.

"If you were okay when I got here, you wouldn't have been unconscious! Will, you almost gave me a heart attack! Then we both would have been out for the count! You're lucky Tony came with me!" she was too worked up, probably from all the Caf-Pow! she had had today.

"How come you both came?" I asked.

"We were going to surprise you and Kate since we didn't have a case today, and then on our way there, I got a call saying you were knocked out and in the nurse's office and Tony almost killed us coming here. Luckily, he had the common sense to call Kate and tell her that we'd be late," Abby told me.

"Sorry to cause all of this trouble," I said.

"Hey, I don't blame you, sweetie. This isn't your fault," she told me then turned to the nurse. "When can we take him? We have a teenager to go pick up."

"Will, why don't you try sitting up, slowly," the nurse advised.

Slowly, and with a little help from the wall, I sat up. My head didn't spin, which I considered a good thing.

"Good. Do you think you can stand?" she asked me.

"Yes," I said and slowly rose from the uncomfortable cot. I didn't sway or fall or anything.

"Okay, then. I don't think he got a concussion, but play it safe for the rest of the day. He may want to take tomorrow off as well. If he feels okay on Friday, he can come in, but I don't want to see him until then, alright?" she said.

"Thank you," Abby said. "Will, do you think you can make it to the car?" she asked.

I took a few steps and my head started to spin again. Tony grabbed me before I could fall and picked me up, bridal-style in his arms.

I stayed awake the whole car ride, trying to clear my head. I was laying the in backseat and I was jostled a little when we stopped in front of the high school. Then, when the door opened behind my head, light spilled into the car and messed with my head all over again.

"Aahh!" I almost screamed when all that light hit my eyes.

"Oh, my God! What happened to him?" I heard Kate say behind my head.

"He got punched in the face and knocked out at school today," Tony said. He sounded really mad.

"Oh, God, Will," she said, shaking her head. "I'll go sit on the other side," she said and gently closed the door.

When she opened the other door, I bent my knees so she would have room to sit. We rode back to NCIS like that.

At least Tony didn't have to carry me into the building. He did stay very close behind me, ready to catch me if I looked unsteady, though. The four of us went up to the Bull Pen together when we got inside and Tony led me over to his desk to sit.

I leaned back in his comfortable chair and looked around. Ziva, Tim, and Gibbs were all staring at me.

Tim was the first one to speak. "God, Will, what happened?" he asked, coming over.

"Some bully punched me in the face," I told him.

"Damn, how'd you manage to make an enemy on the first day of school?" Tony asked me.

"I don't know," I told him.

"Will, are you okay?" Ziva asked. Normally, she has a poker face on, now, she looked angry.

"I will be," I said.

"Who did it?" Gibbs asked.

"Reese Montgomery," I answered, his name tasted sour on my tongue.

Tim went over to his desk and typed furiously on his keyboard. "Is this his?" he asked, putting the information on the plasma screen next to Tony's desk. A picture of Reese came up.

"Yeah," I said.

"Does he have any siblings?" Kate asked, going over to Tim's desk.

"Let me check," he told her. About forty five seconds later, he said, "Yes, he has an older brother, Chad."

"I know him! I went to middle school with him! He's in the grade above me, but everybody knew Chad," she told us.

"Is he good or bad?" Tony asked.

"He was, like, the nicest guy. Plays football for Paul VI and everything," she said.

"Sounds like my friend, Kellie's, brother. Do you know Nathen Martin?" I asked her.

"Heard of him. I've been there a day and I've already heard of him," she smiled. "Sounds like someone here made a friend."

"Yeah, a few, actually," I said.

"See! I knew you would!" Abby exclaimed.

**A/N: Okay, guys, what did you think? Yeah, it's short and I wanted it to go on longer, but I have a lot to do today and my beta is at work and I don't know when she's coming home, so if this is full of mistakes, it's all my fault and not hers (for once). She also doesn't know I'm updating, so she's probably going to yell at me later.**

**Well, you know the drill, review! Please and thank you! They give me inspiration to write and update faster!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey again, guys! Okay, so I know this fic was kind of on hold for a few months, and that was mostly due to my lack of reviews for chapter 10. I got one review in over two months, and that was from my beta. That kind of hurt, guys… **

**But, I've decided to get past that and write this again. This fic is my baby and I love it! **

**So, originally, there was supposed to be a different chapter 11, one written by gibby101, but she's been so busy with school and her own life (of which I have none) and work, that she hasn't written it yet (or she has and she just hasn't told me). But maybe that will be up at a later date. This chapter follows where the last chapter left off, it'll start the day Will goes back to school.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or anything affiliated with it. Anything recognizable isn't mine. I only own Will. Kate Gibbs belongs to gibby101. **

"Hey, Will, you feel good enough to go back to school today?" Abby asked me, opening my bedroom door early on Friday morning. "Hey, your face looks better today."

My face had blown up considerably on Wednesday afternoon after I got hit. I didn't have a concussion, but the team still wanted to hurt him. Kate had joked that I looked like someone backed up into me with a truck and on Wednesday, it had definitely felt that way. My left eye was blackened and my nose was fractured.

When we'd gotten back to NCIS that day, Gibbs called Ducky up to check me out and he said right off the bat that my nose was at least fractured. We'd gone down to the morgue, where his x-ray machine was, and he had me lie down on Table One and he'd done a quick x-ray of my face. There was a hairline fracture, but other than that I was fine. We kept it iced for the right amount of time and Kate and I hung out in the Bull Pen and played cards and stuff till it was time to leave.

When Abby, Tim, and I got back to Abby's and my apartment, we all changed out of our work/school clothes and Tim ordered a pizza. That's when I remembered that I had some homework.

"Abby, I have some stuff for you to sign. Like, expectation sheets and stuff for teachers and some stuff for the office," I told her.

"Where are they?" she asked.

"My backpack in my room," I said, going to get up, but she stopped me.

"Stay put. I'll get your bag and you can get the papers," she told me. She'd been really careful around me all day, getting up to get me stuff so I wouldn't have to and making sure either Tim or Tony went with me when I had to use the head. Abby didn't deal with injuries well, especially in the past few years. I didn't blame her for that, but she was being a little over-bearing today.

When she came back with my backpack, I took out at least ten different pieces of paper for her to sign and handed her a pen. She just started signing them without even reading them.

"Abs, aren't you supposed to read them?" I asked.

"They all basically say the same thing: this is what our class is like and what we expect from our students. Blah blah blah. I had the same things back when I was in school. It's nothing special," she said.

I smiled. I was looking forward to school tomorrow, since I'd missed yesterday because everyone was paranoid. Abby had even suggested that I switch schools, but I declined. I wasn't afraid of Reece, he just hated me and I could live with that. He'd probably be around until we graduated high school, since we'd probably both be going to the same one. Abby had already decided to send me there and his brother went there now, so there was a good chance he'd be there as well.

She finished signing the papers and handed them all back to me in a big pile. "Thanks," I said.

When I got out of bed on Friday morning, I threw a pair of sweat pants and a sweatshirt on, not really caring how I looked. It was Friday, too, and Friday was my strict no-jeans day, unless it was really important.

When Abby dropped me off in front of the school, I walked in quickly and went to homeroom, not stopping to talk or go to my locker. I sat down in the same seat as I had two days ago and enjoyed the silence. Ms. Gibson walked in a few minutes later and looked surprised to see me sitting there.

"Will, how are you? I heard what happened on Wednesday and I couldn't believe it!" she said, looking at me like I might disappear.

"I'm okay. The doctor told me I didn't have a concussion and there's only a hairline fracture on my nose. The swelling went down a bit," I told her.

"Well, that's good, I guess. Reece won't be back until Monday, so you have a day without him. I can't believe that happened on the first day of school. What happened?" she asked.

"He just said something about Kellie not being there, in gym, to protect me and then I said he wasn't a scary bully and then he punched me," I recounted for her.

Ms. Gibson tried not to laugh, but had a little difficulty. "He's so different than his brother. I had Chad when he came through here a few years ago. Nice kid."

"Yeah that's what my friend Kate said. Did you ever have a Kate Gibbs?" I asked her.

"I did! It would have been the year before last, right?" I nodded. "How do you know her?"

"My sister and her father work together. The two of us are practically brother and sister," I said, smiling.

"Tell her I say hi, will you?" she asked. I nodded and then the bell rang and the rest of the kids came into the room.

When I got to first period, Quinn looked surprised to see me. "Will! I heard what happened! Are you alright? Got a nice shiner," he said. "Way to stand up to Reece."

I smiled despite myself. Everybody started talking to me at once after that.

"_How hard did he hit you?" _

"_What did you say?" _

"_Are you alright?"_

"_I heard you had to go to the hospital."_

It went on for a few minutes until Mr. Peters walked in and said, "Alright, everybody, settle down!" the class quieted and everyone went back to their seats. Then he took attendance, which is always boring. When he got to my name, he looked up at me and said, "I heard you were in a fight on Wednesday with Reece Montgomery. You okay?"

Everyone turned to look at me as I answered, "Yeah, I'm okay."

After that, the class was pretty normal. Mr. Peters didn't mention the first day of school again and everyone was so busy with the class work that it wasn't brought up again.

In English, the same kind of ambush happened; apparently it was the talk of the school, and now I was back to tell my side of the story. Mr. McCoy was having none of it, though, and when he walked in he commanded the room. He talked for the next thirty five minutes, just like he had on the first day of school. I found his lectures about books kind of interesting, though nobody else seemed to. I'd always liked books and so did McCoy, so he didn't really bore me.

After class, he asked me to stay for a second. "How are you doing, Will?" he asked, sitting behind his desk while I stood in front of it.

"I'm okay, I guess," I told him.

"I'm sorry about what happened on Wednesday. I was shocked to hear it really. I don't really know you, but you seem like a nice kid. You didn't miss much in here, I pretty much just talked more about the books we're going to cover this year," he told me.

I just nodded, not really having anything to say. Luckily, McCoy kept talking. "I was reviewing your transcripts, because I'd only just gotten them on Thursday and I was very impressed. Skipping the sixth grade. That's pretty big. I bet your parents are very proud."

I winced a little when he said that last part, but I just nodded and said, "Yeah, my sister's really happy for me. She always said I had potential."

"Alright, well, I just wanted to say that and I'm sorry you didn't have the best first day." The bell rang then, interrupting him. "Oh, I'll write you a pass for your next class. Where are you going?" he asked me.

I'd been really bored yesterday, so I'd memorized my schedule. "Computers," I told him.

McCoy scribbled out a pass and handed it to me. "Have a good day, Will."

"Thanks," I said and walked out the door.

When I got upstairs, I handed Mr. Griffith my pass, put my things down, and headed to my seat next to Kellie, where I'd sat two days before. Her face lit up when she saw me.

"Hi," she said as I sat down. "How's the eye?"

"I'm okay. It looks worse than it actually is," I told her. Today, Kellie was dressed similarly to me, wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, though hers was blue and mine was black.

"I couldn't believe it when I'd heard and when I stopped at the nurse's office on my way out, she said that your sister had already picked you up. I felt so bad. And then I heard from Jesse, who was in that class, that Reece had said something about me not being there to defend you in gym, which eventually led to Reece hitting you. I'm so sorry," she told me in a rush, not seeming to get the words out fast enough.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault. I kinda provoked him, not enough for him to hit me, I thought anyway, but I pushed back. It was partially my fault. But none of it was your fault," I told her.

We had to stop our conversation because Mr. Griffith insisted on using almost every last second of class time that he could in the quarter that he had us.

After computers, science went by in a flash and before I knew it, I was walking to Spanish. Surprisingly, it was easier today. Joel said a quick hello to me before Ms. Cortez got the class started. Ziva had offered to help me with the class if I ever needed it because she was fluent in Spanish, as well as like nine other languages.

When we all went down to lunch, I sat with the same group of friends I had on Wednesday and I recounted the story for them. They'd all heard it, but they wanted the first-hand account. After that, we all just talked until it was time to go back to fifth period.

Math and SSR, which I had on Tuesdays and Fridays, went by quickly as well and, before I knew it, school was over and I was walking out to Tony's car and sliding into the back seat.

"Hey, you lasted a day without getting a black eye! Good job!" Kate joked as we drove to headquarters.

I stuck my tongue out at her and she did right back at me. "In my defense, it wasn't my fault."

"That's what they all say," she told me.

"Bet your father would love that excuse if a kid ever hit you," Tony said to Kate. We all laughed, knowing Gibbs would take it way too far. Abby had stopped him from going after Reece, but Jenny probably wouldn't have won that battle if it had been Kate.

"I don't wanna see dad if he's ever that angry," Kate said.

"Your father is not a man to piss off. When he's in a mood like that… I envy the guy on the other side, good or bad. It's usually bad, because you don't get t feel the wrath of Leroy Jethro Gibbs unless you do something bad," Tony said.

"Like that time you got the Plague and almost gave it to me and Kate Todd?" Kate asked, smiling.

"Gibbs was mad at a lot of people that day… Not necessarily me. Pretty much at the bit- _lady_ who sent it to us," Tony said, catching himself before he said the word that Kate and I both knew anyway.

"He was mad at first. You _did_ open the envelope…" Kate pointed out. "With me standing right there."

"That was circumstantial! It wasn't my fault you were at my desk instead of McGeek's or your father's," Tony said.

"Okay, you can have that one. But you _did_ open it, after snatching it out of Kate's hand," Kate said.

"Look, guilty as charged, okay? But it _wasn't_ my fault that that lady _tried to kill us_," Tony said.

"Okay, it's a tie, guys. Really? We're gonna debate something that happened a year ago?" I asked.

"Yes," they both answered.

**A/N: Okay, guys, what did you think? So, I started writing this in early November, but then I stopped for some reason until tonight (1-27-11). I came into my room, sat down, and told myself that I was going to finish this chapter. An hour later I was done. This is kind of a filler chapter and not much exciting happens in it, but something will soon! I promise! **

**Please review! **

**I got one review for the last chapter and that was why I gave up writing this for months! I like this story line and I want to write more, but I can't do that if I'm not motivated! Please just say something! A few words! Favorite line! Anything! Thanks guys!**


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